


Balance the Force:  Uneasy Allies

by Lilith Sedai (TAFKAB)



Series: Balance the Force [4]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Betrayal, Character Death, Grey Jedi, M/M, Political Intrigue, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-20 19:55:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11342172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TAFKAB/pseuds/Lilith%20Sedai
Summary: Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's various manipulations and plots mature around those who are embroiled in them.Reading order:  Galactic Gladiators, Rogue Jedi, Dark Apprentice, Uneasy Allies, Grand Master





	1. Factions

**Author's Note:**

> Snippets of dialog here and there have been stolen from canon, especially Palpatine's speech.

Master of the Order Mace Windu stood alone in the Hall of Knighthood, staring out at the cityscape surrounding the Jedi Temple. The horizon spread out around him, a panorama stretching 360 degrees around the central spire. It was a favorite retreat of his, a quiet place where few came without definite purpose, a place where he was unlikely to be disturbed. 

He clasped his hands behind his back, pacing about the mosaic tile of the circular room and gazing out through the windows at the sun-shimmered landscape surrounding him. 

Windu's brow was heavily furrowed, the only clue that betrayed how deeply troubled he felt in mind and soul. The currents of the Force remained obdurate, swirling about him with maddening opacity, resisting his every effort to penetrate their mystery. Meditate though he might, he could find no peace or solace. 

He reached into his pocket and drew out a datapad, his scowl deepening as he studied the information it held as if hoping it had somehow changed since he first viewed it. His mind could hardly encompass the horror of the report, which revealed that deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas had acted on his vague forebodings of war, obtained funding from private sources, and commissioned the growth of well over a million clone warriors on a remote, watery world named Kamino-- warriors that were nearly ready to be deployed in a conflict that had yet to begin. 

He stabbed at the datapad, glowering at the file and wondering for the thousandth time who had sent it. The transmission had originated in a fabricated electronic mail account that could not be traced to an individual sender. It had simply appeared on his personal mail listing one morning, flagged as urgent and confidential, and careful investigations had confirmed the contents. It might be from anyone-- a benevolent agent under cover, a neutral Jedi who feared reprisals for sharing the information, or even a manipulative enemy. Intuition pointed toward a Jedi; who else could have penetrated the Archives' confidentiality protocols and attached the relevant data files-- files which had then been deleted tracelessly from the very Archives from which they had originated, leaving him in possession of perhaps the only copies. Or had others received them as well? He had no way to know. 

Windu's mouth pinched tight with displeasure. 

He thrust the pad deep inside his pocket once more, swirling in a flurry of robes and setting out rapidly across the center of the chamber, even though there was nothing to do but turn on his heel when he reached the window and stalk back again. His agitation overwhelmed the need for serenity; he faced a galactic civil war in the making. 

Not only that, but he bore another burden, one that perhaps only he was aware of: he was fighting the disintegration of the Jedi Order, a slow and subtle progression that accelerated daily in spite of any way he tried to stop it. 

He had seen the shatterpoint a crucial few moments too late, immediately after Obi-Wan Kenobi departed from his knighting ceremony. The vision had come when Grand Master Yoda rose and followed Kenobi from the room. Windu had staggered and nearly fallen as the chamber faded from his sight and in its place, he beheld the Jedi Temple broken as though by earthquake, gaping chasms ripping through the structure all the way to the sacred mountain at its core. 

He had been slow to realize how his vision would manifest and even slower to believe that the 800-year-old Grand Master of the High Council was responsible for the breaking. But by now he knew the truth of it: every day Jedi slipped away from the Temple, quietly following Yoda and Kenobi to Xinune, or just as quietly undertaking the Xinune contingent's work from a hundred other places in the galaxy. He had managed to trace a few of them and had even arranged for an informant to infiltrate the Palazzo compound. 

The Xinune faction seemed a peaceable enough enclave on the surface, but Windu knew better. They supported a controversial political agenda completely at odds with the official purpose of the Jedi Order as decreed by the Senate. Many worked to smuggle humanitarian aid through Republic-sanctioned blockades, subverting Republic laws and proscriptions, ignoring vital legal checks and balances in the name of compassion. Worse yet, his informant reported rumors that some Jedi on Xinune had begun to train using heretical methods, violating the sacred doctrine of the Jedi Code that valued serenity over passion. 

Windu rubbed his palm over his bald head, wiping away the oily sweat that gathered there. He would have to bring an accusation against Yoda eventually, but that would only accelerate the destruction, and the Jedi could not afford internal conflict with civil war on the horizon. He could hardly imagine how the situation could grow worse. 

His commlink chirped, the special signal that indicated a request for the receiver to accommodate a holographic transmission, so he stepped to the side of the room and brought it up on the central comm. 

"Chancellor Palpatine," he spoke, slightly surprised. "How can I be of service to you today?" 

"Councillor Windu." Palpatine leaned forward, mingling his politician's smile with an urgency of manner, letting Windu know this was more than a social call. "I'm glad to catch you alone. I've received some rather interesting intelligence from one of my connections. It regards the Separatist faction." 

Windu set aside his irritation and focused fully on the Chancellor. "Yes?" 

"It seems the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems are scheduled to meet a few weeks from now in a private enclave on Geonosis. My information indicates they will discuss secession-- and if necessary, war." Palpatine hesitated. "I believe you are acquainted with the droid foundries the Geonosians maintain on their planet and the intelligence we have gained concerning vast sums of Trade Federation and Separatist funding that has been channeled into them during the past few solar cycles." 

Tension ratcheted up yet another notch in Windu's mind, and he felt the beginnings of a headache piercing his skull behind his left eye. "How do you plan to meet this threat?" he asked, aware that the question acknowledged a measure of his own indecision. 

"I plan to offer a peace initiative to the separatist factions," Palpatine leaned forward. "I want to reason with them, to find common ground. I want to give them an easy way to abandon their plan to leave the Republic-- to offer them legal forgiveness and protection and to invite a diplomatic solution. I am desperate to prevent war, Councillor Windu, and I will risk my own credibility as Chancellor in the service of peace, if I must." 

Windu nodded slowly. "Where and how will you offer this initiative?" 

"I will go to Geonosis to meet with them personally as a token of good faith. That is where you come in, Councillor. It is a risky choice, I know, so I must ask you to provide Jedi protection for my embassy." 

"It's too risky." Windu shook his head. "Nobody knows how many droids the Separatists have already purchased from the Geonosians. They're almost certainly stockpiling them there." 

"Councillor." Palpatine smiled, disarming. "I have the utmost faith in the Jedi and in my own guards. Surely such a risk is worthwhile in the cause of peace." 

Windu shook his head. "I strongly advise against it, but if you are resolved on this course of action, I think I can guarantee Jedi support." He could not envision Yoda openly refusing the will of the Senate and the Supreme Chancellor-- at least, not yet. 

"I will not let this Republic that has stood for a thousand years be split in two. My negotiations will not fail." 

"If they do, you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers." 

Palpatine smiled at him soberly. "We must trust that we will not need an army, then. My initiative seems our last, best hope." 

_An army._ Windu suppressed a shudder. "I'll be prepared to present my arrangements to the Council when you make a formal announcement of your intent." 

"Thank you." Palpatine smiled. "You are a good friend and ally, Councillor Windu." 

"It's my duty to serve you, Chancellor." He terminated the conversation and rubbed futilely at the throbbing needle of pain over his eye. Impossible though it had originally seemed, his day was still getting worse. 

Windu stared at the horizon for long moments, then punched at the comm screen, hailing the Flight Corps. "I want a fast ship with plenty of long-range capacity-- the smaller and faster the better. Most confidential." 

This was his last shot at saving the Jedi; he had better make the most of it. 

*****

"Knight Kenobi." The voice behind him was young and shrill-- given their limited numbers, the Jedi on Xinune had to make do with any available staff, and that meant junior padawans stood watch alongside knights and masters. 

"Yes, Padawan Rysi?" 

"I'm showing a single-man fighter leaving hyperspace, sir. One of the new Delta Sevens. It's hailing us using ambassadorial codes." 

"Broadcast acknowledgment with holo pickup pending." Obi-Wan simultaneously keyed the facility's defense screens and reached out into the Force, finding a familiar signature waiting there. He very nearly cursed aloud. "And call for Master Yoda!" He settled his robes around his shoulders, scrubbing a hand through his rebellious hair-- he never seemed able to find time to have it cut. 

Taking a deep breath, he keyed the holotransmitter. "Master Windu. What an unexpected pleasure." 

"Knight Kenobi." Windu nodded coolly. "I've come seeking a personal meeting with Councillor Yoda. Requesting permission to dock at your facility." 

Obi-Wan sorted options at lightning speed-- to offer a neutral meeting ground away from the Palazzo would be tantamount to an announcement that he considered Windu an adversary. The Force gave him no warning of deception, so he decided to let Mace in. 

"Permission granted. Follow the signal beacon and I'll meet you there." He routed Windu to the least sensitive of their landing facilities, a clearing in the lower tier of the Palazzo gardens. 

He paused over his console, augmenting the hasty security measures he had erected and giving Windu clearance to pass the shields. Gesturing for one of the knights, he issued his instructions. "Monitor him for aggressive action and watch for signs that he's brought backup. At the least sign of a problem lock down the entire compound, put both ground and aerial defenses on maximum, and send out a support team of our best swordsmen. I don't think he'll make trouble, but we don't want to be caught with our pants down." 

The man agreed with a curt nod, taking over the console, and Obi-Wan trotted out, calling for Yoda. 

"On my way, I am." Yoda sounded as serene as if he were discussing breakfast. "Will you be there in time for his disembarking?" 

"Yes." Obi-Wan avoided the ponderous turbolifts and slid down the banisters of the access stair instead, nimbly reversing at the landings. 

"Take care in what you tell him. Dangerous to say too much. Stall him, you must, until I arrive." 

"I will." Obi-Wan hit the last level at a trot, coming out into dazzling sunlight and slowing his pace to a sedate walk. He was in place well before the ship descended, relieved to see that the attack foils were not extended. 

"Councillor Windu." He stepped up next to the ship as the man climbed from the cockpit, hooking his boots into the rungs along the wing and dropping gracefully to the grass. "Won't you come this way?" 

He led Windu into the cottage that stood next to the landing pad, where the Palazzo staff maintained a seating area and a cooler with light refreshments to greet offworld guests. "Can I get you something?" 

Windu shook his head but Obi-Wan put on a kettle anyway, preparing tea for Yoda. He tapped in a request for Gida to be ready to furnish an extra meal and went to sit with Windu, who was looking around the place as though waiting for a Sith to step out of the shadows. 

"Master Yoda asked me to say that he would arrive shortly." 

"This is quite an impressive setup." Windu gazed out the window and up toward the top of the ridge, where one arm of the Palazzo was visible, climbing vines flowering along its stone terraces. "I understand it belongs to Qui-Gon Jinn." 

"At one time," Obi-Wan acknowledged smoothly. "When Master Yoda and I arrived to investigate his activities we found it abandoned. Currently the royal family is in residence." 

Windu raised a brow. "Are they really." 

"King Tiran can join us, if you like." 

"No. This is Jedi business." 

Obi-Wan took the kettle off the heat and poured the tea to let it steep; as he did so Yoda entered the room, hobbling theatrically on his stick. 

"Master Windu." Yoda took a seat on a hassock, crossing his legs. "Desire speech with me, you do?" 

"With you or whoever else is in charge of this facility." 

Yoda regarded him levelly. "I am the senior Jedi here." 

"And I'm too experienced to fall for your semantic tricks," Windu snapped. "Does Qui-Gon Jinn run this place, or do you?" 

"Qui-Gon is not among us," Yoda said steadily. "In charge of the Jedi on Xinune, I am, and of this facility-- by acknowledgment of Tiran, reigning monarch." 

Windu settled back, getting a rein on his temper. "Finally you admit it." 

"Nothing I see needful to conceal in this." 

"You've been gathering Jedi here ever since you left Coruscant. I can see you're building a permanent facility and drawing others to support your cause." Windu rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward, his face intent. "Whatever that cause may be, it's clear you aren't in agreement with the High Council anymore. Nor do you support the Senate." 

Windu paused as Yoda accepted a cup of tea from Obi-Wan, then accepted one himself with a sigh. "Yoda, we can't afford to split the allegiance of the Jedi. Between the needs of the Trade Federation and the demands of the Separatists, the galaxy stands poised on the cusp of war. It's a war that could destroy both the Republic and the Jedi. I've come today to try to reconcile this internal problem before it can damage the Jedi Order any further. It goes against all rules of diplomacy to weaken your position before an opponent, but I choose to believe we aren't opponents in this. Do you want war? Do you want to break the Jedi? I believe not, and we must use anything we can find as common ground to rebuild our common purpose." 

"That is wisdom, Master Windu." Yoda held his tea gravely. "And well it is that you have come here now, that you speak so frankly to me in this. Split the Jedi, I would not-- but disagree with the Council, I must." 

"You aren't in possession of all the knowledge you need to make good choices." Windu stood, pacing around the room. "I have classified information that I haven't shared with the other Councillors." 

"As do I." Yoda sipped his tea placidly, watching Windu with deceptively sleepy eyes. 

"You forced my hand at Kenobi's knighting ceremony and refused to share all your knowledge with me then." Windu gave Obi-Wan a brief, unfriendly stare. "Whether it was relevant or not, it has set a precedent of mistrust between us." 

"Yes," Yoda acknowledged. "Regrettable, it was, but necessary." 

"I don't care what you're hiding anymore." Mace shook his head, bitter. "I've already abandoned my pride to come here today, so before I leave, I'm going to make you aware of exactly what's at stake." He glared toward Obi-Wan. "Leave us, Kenobi." 

"Stay, he will." Yoda set down his teacup. "Deeply concerned in these matters, is Obi-Wan." 

The two masters locked eyes, staring, but Yoda did not falter, and finally Windu shook his head, exasperated. "Very well. I have computer files on this datapad to back up what I say, so I'll keep my summary short. Thanks to our old friend Sifo-Dyas, the Kaminoans are breeding a galactic army of clones, all but ready to step up and do battle for the Senate. Conveniently enough, the Separatist Confederacy is stockpiling its own army of battle droids on Geonosis. As you already know, some of the Jedi support the Senate, and others side with the separatists-- Councillor Dooku foremost among them. 

"Chancellor Palpatine has become aware that the Separatist leaders are soon to meet on Geonosis, preparing to secede. He plans to go to them and make a last plea for peace." He returned to the couch and folded himself onto it, staring Yoda square in the eye. 

"I know you don't support the Senate, but I can't believe you're in league with the Separatists, either, and I know you don't want a war any more than I do. Order your people back and return to Coruscant with me, Yoda, and I pledge to vote with you on the Council in order to get humanitarian aid to those who've been injured on both sides-- or tell me what else you want, and I'll consider whether I can agree. You alone have the power to keep the Jedi united and work with me so that we can support the peace initiative and prevent this conflict." He ran out of words, so intent he nearly quivered in his stillness, and waited. 

Yoda accepted the datapad and fingered it thoughtfully, scanning the information it held. 

"This data you have, about the clones. Where did you get it?" 

Windu took a deep breath. "I don't know. It's been verified, but the transmission originated anonymously. It had to be someone with access to the Jedi Archives." 

Obi-Wan and Yoda exchanged a long, thoughtful look, and Obi-Wan stepped over to scan the files for himself, reading quickly. "He's right," he said quietly. "War seems all but inevitable." 

"Carefully orchestrated, this has been." 

"Yes." 

"But by whom? The Sith Lord?" Windu clenched his fist, and then his eyes narrowed. "You think you know who he is. Obi-Wan must have obtained the information from Qui-Gon. That's what you concealed at his Knighthood Trials!" 

"Your insight serves you well." Yoda raised his chin. "But tell you more, we cannot. It would mean disaster for the Republic. In this you must trust me." 

Windu exhaled, rubbing his forehead over his left eye. "I must know who it is." 

"The more who know, the more danger there is for all. No questions of this sort will I answer. Not yet." Yoda jabbed his stick at Windu. "Meditate on the consequences, I must, before acting. Obi-Wan?" 

"Yes, master?" 

"Take Master Windu through the Palazzo and show him what we have built. Trust us, he has, and we will demonstrate our trust in return." 

"Yes, Master Yoda." Obi-Wan bowed, and led Windu forth into the gardens. He had agreed to show Windu the Palazzo, but left to his discretion, he much preferred to avoid the more sensitive areas. "These gardens are the finest on the southern continent. Perhaps you would care to walk through them instead of going in through the basement infrastructure." 

Windu raised a wry brow at Obi-Wan. "Whatever you choose." Clearly indifferent to his surroundings, he followed Obi-Wan, brooding to himself. 

The pair met relatively few others, at least until Obi-Wan took Master Windu into the refectory when the dinner hour chimed. The Xinune Jedi froze at the sight of the Councillor within their midst, a silence falling that slowly faded and let subdued conversation take its place. Obi-Wan seated Windu at the high table where it was the custom for the compound's leaders to dine: Obi-Wan, Yoda, the empty chair reserved for Qui-Gon, and a handful of masters who assisted in running the compound-- an informal council of sorts. 

The food was Gida's best, but it turned to ashes in Obi-Wan's mouth as he watched the disquiet in the room-- the reluctant, clandestine glances at Windu, the way the eyes of friends and partners met and lingered as they communicated their unease without words. 

They needed to be reassured and given a framework for Windu's presence that would allow them to believe he was not a threat. 

When the meal was nearly over, Obi-Wan stood, tapping his glass with his knife until he had everyone's attention. "We are honored by the presence of Jedi High Councillor Windu among us tonight. Let us extend our warmest welcome to our guest, as one of our cherished Jedi friends and brothers on Coruscant-- always a part of us, as we are a part of them." 

Polite applause greeted his speech, and some measure of relaxation ensued, though Windu merely raised a brow at the grand words. 

"You're highly placed here," Windu commented quietly, when the others' attention had waned. "These people respect and trust you. Is that why you remain?" 

Obi Wan sighed. "I do not desire power." 

Windu studied him intently for a long moment. "Is it true you're training your personnel in the Dark Side techniques of the Gray Jedi, techniques you learned from Qui-Gon Jinn?" 

"No," Obi-Wan said firmly. "We don't train in the Dark Side. We have begun to train in the use of emotions to enhance Force powers, but there is no focus on the Dark Side. In fact, we're highly hesitant to use it and we haven't trained anyone in its use. It can be dangerous and destructive, and we respect that." 

"You know Vaapad is my chosen form." Mace sat back thoughtfully. "It does utilize the fighter's dark emotions, under rigid controls." 

"Yes, Master Windu." Obi-Wan nodded. "But Vaapad concentrates from the first on channeling inner darkness outward. A Dark Jedi would focus the darkness entirely inside the user and seek to increase it without release. Our techniques are located somewhere between the two-- emotion is generated, used as a center, and then dispersed as completely and benignly as possible. In the case of darker emotions, yes, they must consciously be directed outward in a harmless way, instead of allowing them to remain within the fighter. I've only used dark emotion once, without conscious intent, and I haven't attempted to teach it to any others." 

"I would be curious to duel with you." 

"With respect," Obi-Wan shook his head, "I think it might be best not to show signs of conflict between us, not even in the training salle. Another time, perhaps, or--" he flushed slightly. "I could show you a holovid demonstrating the technique." 

"That would be an acceptable compromise." 

Obi-Wan led Windu to Qui-Gon's study when the meal was finished, and took some care in cueing the holo of his Soresu demonstration to the precise moment when Qui-Gon stepped back from him, then started it. 

"Impressive," Windu glanced at him when it finished, eyes calculating. "You could not have done that when you passed your Trial of Skill." 

"No," Obi-Wan agreed. 

"What did Jinn do to provoke your defensive emotions?" 

Obi-Wan flushed. "That is irrelevant." 

Windu studied him, eyes keen. "There are times when I suspect it was highly fortuitous for you that Qui-Gon was forced to abandon your training when he did." 

"Qui-Gon Jinn never treated me improperly when he was my master." Obi-Wan released a surge of anger to the Force. "Quite the opposite." 

"Where is he now?" 

"He has vanished; nobody knows." 

"I think you have some idea. You hold a chair empty for him in the dining hall and this room contains strong traces of his aura, as do others I have seen today." 

"I think you should refer such questions to Master Yoda." 

"Agree, I do." Yoda's voice interrupted them, and they turned to find him standing in the door. He stepped in, closing it behind him, and took his time advancing to a low chair and clambering up, settling his robes before he spoke again. 

"Support the Supreme Chancellor's peace initiative you must, Master Windu, and we stand ready to assist." He lifted his chin. "We will send a delegation to Geonosis to aid you, but this I ask: mention it, you must not. Not to the Jedi High Council or to any other Jedi, not to the Supreme Chancellor or the Senate, not to the Guardians you assign from the Temple on Coruscant. Go to Geonosis you must, to lead the delegation in person." 

He jabbed his gimer stick at Windu, emphasizing his point. "Communicate with me, you should, or Obi-Wan, to coordinate. Keep your promise and you need fear no dissenting action from this quarter. Support, I will, your motion to protect the Supreme Chancellor and to discourage the Separatists." He looked weary, but maintained his stern stare at Windu. "Discuss later, we will, the Trade Federation-- should the necessity remain." 

Windu's shoulders sagged almost imperceptibly, with relief. "You have eased my mind, at least in this." 

"Stop this war, we must." Yoda nodded gravely. "More important than any other consideration." 

"Except perhaps the Sith." 

"That will be dealt with also." Yoda pursed his lips. "In time." 

"If Qui-Gon is a Sith, I will kill him when I see him." Windu shifted his penetrating gaze to Obi-Wan, who stood carefully still, his face a mask of calm. 

"We also seek the downfall of the Sith." Yoda remained serene. "More information I will share with you when the time is right." 

Obi-Wan stepped between them. "Will you remain with us, or shall I call an escort to return you to your ship?" 

"I'll be going." Windu rose, including both of them in a stiff-necked glare. "I have work to do on Coruscant." He hesitated. "I advise you both: do not betray me." 

"Betray each other, we must not," Yoda agreed as Obi-Wan signaled for a knight to escort Windu out. 

He released a heavy sigh when the man had gone. "Master Yoda--" 

"A risk it was, Qui-Gon's decision. A risk he knew and accepted." Yoda shrugged his shoulders. "For Palpatine to venture out-- unusual, it is, and unexpected. Not without purpose does he act. The culmination of Qui-Gon's plans I sense, for good or ill. Prepared we must be. Our best knights and masters, we will send-- veterans of combat, skilled warriors only. Select them." 

"Yes, master." 

"Precede us to Geonosis you should." Yoda rubbed his three-clawed hand over his face. "Scout out the area where the Separatists will meet. Send back information and join us at the rendezvous. Every advantage is needed if we are to defeat the Sith, hm?" He gazed at Obi-Wan soberly. "Every possible precaution you must take to ensure your safety. Many dangers there will be, the Sith not the least. --Both of them." 

"I will do my best." Obi-Wan nodded soberly, and seeing that there was no more, he excused himself. 

*****

Geonosis glowed like a cabochon of polished jasper set in ebony velvet sparkling with diamond dust. It was encircled by a magnificent ring of debris that provided the raw materials for the droid foundries on the planet below. 

Obi-Wan cautiously maneuvered his ship into the debris field, choosing a large asteroid with a recessed hollow that would shield him from all but the largest debris impacts, and tucked his fighter into the alcove carefully. It would also conceal him from sensor probes while allowing him to get a sense for Geonosis as he monitored the planet to detect unusual activity worth investigation. 

His scans showed a nearly lifeless world except for the sentient Geonosians; a long-ago asteroid collision with one of its moons had caused a rain of toxic meteors, destroying nearly 99% of the lifeforms on the surface and leaving only the most resilient to survive. It made for an ideal industrial world, though perhaps not the best location for a political summit. 

He glanced up as a small asteroid impacted near the lip of his alcove. He had little or no sense of danger from the planet below-- no sense at all of the pervasive evil of the Sith, which Qui-Gon had once so carefully shown him. 

Satisfied with his scans, Obi-Wan maneuvered out of concealment and made planetfall, hoping to remain undetected-- the large amount of meteor activity in the atmosphere might serve to conceal the arrival of such a small craft. 

He positioned himself near the biggest of the droid foundries, just outside sensor range of a small city comprised of spherical droid warships, each berthed in a recessed hangar and hooked to refueling cells. Standing outside his ship, he realized he could hear the drone of an engine, so he lifted his macrobinoculars skyward. 

A sleek black dart of a ship was incoming, and he reached out to it with his senses but could discern nothing about its occupants, only the steady approach of the vessel itself. He expected it to go past swiftly, but it decelerated, and he suddenly realized it was angling toward a nearby rock formation-- specifically, toward a small cave cut near the top of it, where his sensors had shown only an entry chamber leading to an abandoned factory floor. 

He waited, watching pariently after the ship landed, and eventually a small speeder bike emerged bearing a cloaked figure, so far away it was barely a dot-- and again, he could sense nothing. 

It piqued his curiosity. Obi-Wan glanced between the departing speeder and the cave, then decided to investigate the cave first. 

He took a supply of water and set out across what his maps identified as the N'ge'u Valley, which was far wider on foot than it looked to the naked eye. He arrived at his destination near nightfall and began to climb the rough sandstone, which offered more than enough purchase for Jedi strength and reflexes. The planetary ring system shone brightly in the sky, providing plenty of light for climbing. He made good progress, and before middle-night he was pulling himself into the cave he had observed from across the valley in the morning. 

His senses did not detect anyone inside but he moved with caution nonetheless, carefully edging around the corner and finding the hangar where the black ship waited. 

Echoes of the Dark Side throbbed around the ship, subtle but distinct, and he frowned. The hangar bay was all but silent, dimly lit. Only a single steady hum met his senses, originating from a corrugated black conduit that linked the ship with a power cell, recharging it. 

The ship loomed quietly in the darkness-- a two-man ship, large enough to hold its own powerful hyperdrive. 

His ears perked suddenly at the sound of an engine, and he glanced swiftly about, seeking the best cover. Finally he selected the shadows of a wide round power column. 

The speeder bike zoomed back in, settling to the floor, and its driver dismounted, a column of light from a recessed fixture catching his face. 

Obi-Wan inhaled softly and pressed himself deeper into shadow, understanding his peril even as he worked to empty his mind, trying to disperse the traces of his presence into the Force. 

It was Qui-Gon. --Darth Mallaigh. 

The Sith raised his head, frowning, looking around the room thoughtfully. He was so skilled at concealing his presence in the Living Force that Obi-Wan had never felt his approach. 

Behind him, two droids on jet platforms entered the room. They set down carefully and scuttled over to the ship. The Sith touched a control pad he held in his hand and the ship settled, retracting various armaments, a shimmer of violet indicating the dropping of its external shielding. The droids swarmed onto the hull, beginning maintenance. 

Obi-Wan's heart pounded hard in his chest, so hard he almost feared Mallaigh would hear it. But if he did he gave no sign. He stood watching the droids as they worked, occasionally offering a terse directive. Obi-Wan could see the silver reflection of metal at Mallaigh's hip and realized the man carried more than one lightsaber. 

He looked drawn, too thin, and the short hair made him look much older. 

Automatically Obi-Wan reached out for a better sense of him, but again came up empty. He frowned, then tried to repress the Force-resonance of his reaction, but Mallaigh did not respond to it. He folded his arms and stepped near one of the droids, which had deployed an arc-welder to adjust the landing gear. 

After a few more minutes the droids ended their work and Mallaigh reset the security systems on his ship. His eyes moved serenely around the room, across Obi-Wan's hiding place, and he turned his back, re-mounting his speeder bike, the droids trailing him. 

He jetted out without further ado, and Obi-Wan slid out of concealment, noiseless as smoke, stalking the droids with expert precision. One took flight on its platform; the other paused to stow its tools first. 

Obi-Wan's lightsaber flashed twice and the pieces of the maintenance droid clattered to the floor. A flicker of Force swept them out of the hangar and let them tumble to the desert floor; he mounted the jet platform himself and keyed it to fly, pursuing Mallaigh at a discreet distance. 

The speeder bike took a winding path through the desert and finally approached and vanished inside a rocky spire, a tall edifice too regularly formed to be produced by natural erosion-- one of several scattered about the plain. Obi-Wan carefully noted its location for future reference and ditched his jet platform at its base, beginning a stealthy upward climb. 

This time his initiative was rewarded rapidly: he could sense numerous beings inside, including at least one Force-sensitive, possibly a Jedi. Arriving at the first turn of the spiral he entered a passageway and slipped up a tall, winding stair, keeping alert for sentries, glad that his brown cloak would blend so easily with the sandstone walls and coppery gilding favored by the Geonosians. 

The Force swelled, warning him, and he ducked into a side corridor as a group ascended the stair, led by a familiar white-haired figure: Councilor Dooku, his padawan by his side. 

"As I explained to you earlier, I am quite convinced that ten thousand more systems will rally to our cause with your support, gentlemen." Dooku held forth in a sonorous monologue, well-satisfied with the gravitas and importance of his pronouncements. "All we must do is stand our ground. This repressive taxation is a violation of our--" he passed out of Obi-Wan's hearing, still talking, the footsteps of his group echoing long after their shadows vanished from the wall. 

Obi-Wan's fist clenched. Dooku was allied with the Sith-- knowingly? Unknowingly? He could not be certain which. 

He fell in behind the group, ghosting along as quietly as he could, until the corridor terminated in a wide room lined with computer consoles. A rounded platform stood in the center, its red-hatched grid displaying a holographic schematic of the surrounding countryside. Dooku and his guests stood next to it-- as did Mallaigh. 

Obi-Wan retreated hastily into shdow. The Sith's austere glare subdued the group, who kept a distance between themselves and him. They were prudent except for a single belligerent Geonosian who flittered straight under Mallaigh's nose, shaking an angry finger. 

"The Supreme Chancellor is coming here? With a horde of Jedi guards? This was not a part of our plan!" 

Dark Force stirred, the only emanation of any kind Obi-Wan had sensed from Mallaigh since first spotting the man, and caught the offending arm in an iron-hard grip, shoving the Geonosian against the wall with invisible power. "Withdraw your finger if you wish to keep it." An ice-cold hiss, his voice was laced with a rage that made Obi-Wan's skin crawl. 

The Geonosian's eyes shot to the Jedi as though for aid, but Dooku simply stood idle, watching. Anakin was not so serene, his eyes sparkling with eager interest. 

"It is a part of our plan, my friend." Mallaigh's voice purred harshly. "The Separatist Council can reject the Supreme Chancellor as easily if he is on Geonosis as you can if he is on Coruscant. Palpatine will draw a great force of Jedi with him, Jedi we will dispatch with our battle droids. Jedi who will no longer meddle with your affairs thereafter." 

Obi-Wan's hand tightened reflexively on his commlink; this was news he would have to carry back to Yoda no matter the cost. 

Dooku finally bestirred himself and spoke. "We stand on the brink of galactic war, gentlemen. If the Senate authorizes the Supreme Chancellor to create an army or to declare war, the Jedi will be our most dangerous enemy. We must see to their elimination." 

"Bold words from a member of the Jedi High Council." A Neimoidian fidgeted, its shifty eyes blinking. "Some might even call them words of treason!" 

"My sympathies do not lie with the vast majority of the Jedi." Dooku shrugged easily. "I have helped to hand-pick the Jedi Knights who will accompany the Supreme Chancellor. When Windu and his forces are gone my allies will remain, and you will find them far more accommodating of your agenda. I will take command of the Council-- and also of the Order, once I have denounced Grand Master Yoda as the Gray Jedi he has become." 

Obi-Wan's eyes closed and his lips formed a silent curse. 

"This discussion is pointless." Mallaigh spoke again. "We are resolved on our plans, are we not?" He paused, staring around the group, fixing each leader's eyes with silent malice until their gazes dropped and they nodded acquiescence. 

"My friend Mallaigh is correct. We must focus instead on bringing more systems into the Confederacy." Dooku resumed his nominal control of the group. "Come." 

They trooped out and Mallaigh lifted his head, gazing about the room as if seeking an intruder, but his eyes moved without pause over the corridor where Obi-Wan crouched, well-concealed. Obi-Wan shivered as those blazing eyes moved past him. 

Mallaigh turned, snapping his cloak tight around his body, and followed the Separatists from the room. 

Obi-Wan fled as hastily as he dared, reclaiming his jet platform and returning to his ship. 

Xinune was just in range of his unboosted comm dish-- a fortunate thing. "R4, code a transmission for the old folks' home." He quickly composed the message for Yoda in his mind and delivered it in terse phrases, as hastily as he could-- his danger sense was nagging at him with growing insistence. His control over masking his presence in the Living Force had never been perfect and he simply could not credit that Darth Mallaigh had missed him twice. 

\--And as the characteristic clittering roll of destroyers became audible, he knew he had not. "Destroyers! Send the message, R4." Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber, putting the sandstone wall at his back, but there were five destroyers and he could see a larger force of B2 super battle droids loping along behind them. He was fatally outnumbered. 

His message had gone out; that was what mattered. Hopefully Mallaigh was also counting on it. 

He drew himself upright and lowered his weapon. "I surrender." 

A stun bolt caught him and he knew no more. 

*****

He came to slowly, first aware of his inability to feel the Force, then aware of the heavy shock-cuffs that bound his wrists and ankles. A slight vertigo and the crackle of electrical arc, warned that he was suspended in a force field, and the heaviness of his head said his body had been tilted forward while the play of air over his chest and arms warned of the removal of his cloak and tunics. 

He took careful inventory of his body, feeling no pain other than at the site of the stun, which had struck his left shoulder. He flexed the joint experimentally and found it functional. He could move within the field except for the fixed points of the shock-cuffs, which held his arms and legs perfectly still. His legs, he noted, were spread, and a frisson of nervousness shot through him at the sense of vulnerability. 

A hand fell on his arm, penetrating the force field, hard callused fingers sweeping harshly over forearm and elbow to his left shoulder, where the bruised skin from the stun bolt pulsed and tingled, half-numb. 

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and stared straight into Darth Mallaigh's grim face. His heart leaped into high gear-- adrenaline surging into his body, both fear and arousal cresting inside him-- but he did not know which to indulge. He firmed his jaw and remained silent as Mallaigh lifted his chin, studying him impassively. 

They were in the hangar-- next to Mallaigh's ship. He recognized the patterns on the wall and the mosaic of tiles in the floor. 

Obi-Wan lunged on instinct, snapping at the hand that touched him. It withdrew only millimeters ahead of his teeth, which clicked together on empty air. 

The field that held him rotated slowly, displaying him as he turned, disorienting him slightly and making him feel dizzy and nauseated. Mallaigh stood back, remaining silent, waiting for him to turn before stepping forward. His hard, broad hand fell on Obi-Wan's thigh and he felt himself stop rotating. The Sith's hard body stepped forward, pressing between his knees, ignoring the arcs that crackled through the force field that immobilized his cuffs. Rough, callused hands fell on Obi-Wan's shoulders, the broad nails digging into his skin, and he shuddered, torn again between fear and lust. 

"You are foolhardy, Jedi." The deep voice made him shiver-- rough, sensual, but with a low grating note. He gulped hard, needing to see the man's face, but he could not turn far enough to manage it. "You were warned." 

Those hard hands stroked him, sliding down his ribs, harsh and almost painful on his skin. 

"You should not have come." Mallaigh pushed closer, his groin hot against Obi-Wan's ass. He leaned in and sank his teeth at the curve where Obi-Wan's neck joined his shoulder. Obi-Wan cried out, unable to help himself; Mallaigh's teeth tightened, marking him. 

"Qui-Gon--" Obi-Wan gasped, but the teeth sank harder, almost hard enough to draw blood, and he whimpered in spite of himself, jerking his head away. 

"I am Darth Mallaigh," the voice was stony now, wrathful, and Obi-Wan's hands clenched into fists at the sound of it. His mind conjured the picture of the fiery red blade piercing Tahl's body-- the same blade the man wore at his hip now. He would do what he believed he must, and if that included murder... then that was what Qui-Gon would do, even before the addition of Mallaigh, who held him now. 

Obi-Wan realized his breath had begun to come rapidly, his chest heaving. The blue glow of the force field dazzled in the tears forming in his eyes-- tears for Qui-Gon, for Tahl, and perhaps even for himself. 

Mallaigh licked at his stinging shoulder, tonguing away a bead of blood. 

Obi-Wan moaned, very softly, at the heat of that tongue and at the possessive clutch of the hand sliding around his ribs to cover his nipple. 

The soft sound sent Mallaigh into a frenzy. He withdrew and tore Obi-Wan's leggings from him. The fabric shredded with a low purring sound, and Mallaigh left it dangling from the tops of Obi-Wan's boots. Then the Sith stepped back and Obi-Wan could see him again, standing, his eyes raking Obi-Wan's bare body. The Sith wiped a trace of blood from his mouth as the slow rotation resumed. 

He realized abruptly that Mallaigh's eyes glowed golden; he was gripped by a silent frenzy of emotion, his thick fingers clenching and releasing over his huge palms. Obi-Wan's breath escaped him in a low gush of true terror. 

"Don't," he whispered. "No, don't let it, don't let it--" 

"Shut up!" Mallaigh roared, the chamber echoing, lunging forward. His gloved hand slapped over Obi-Wan's mouth and his yellow eyes gleamed with rage. 

Obi-Wan felt a tear slide over his eyelid and onto his cheek, the depth of his grief and despair near to destroying him-- not just for Qui-Gon, but for the multitudes who stood to die if he fell. 

Mallaigh leaned in and licked the tear-drop away, tongue hot against his skin. 

Obi-Wan jerked his head away, thrashing hard against the restraints. Mallaigh ignored it, his hand holding Obi-Wan in place as he inhaled Obi-Wan's breath. From his inclined position Obi-Wan could see the long ridge of arousal that lay swollen and hungry inside the left leg of the black bodysuit Mallaigh wore beneath his cloak. His own cock had begun to fill, and he accepted it; let Mallaigh see his desire. Obi-Wan had nothing to gain by trying to hide-- neither his desire nor his grief nor his love. 

"Don't. Talk." Softer this time, Mallaigh's voice was still harsh, a coarse, graveled whisper. 

Mallaigh stepped back and unfastened the clasp of his cloak, tossing it aside carelessly, that devouring golden stare never leaving Obi-Wan. He paced slowly for a few moments, matching the turning of the cuffs and keeping Obi-Wan's face in front of him, but stopped when his back was to the wall, remaining watchful even in lust. Once there, he again waited until Obi-Wan's ass was presented to him, then stepped forward, stopping half-inside the force-field, which crackled faintly at the intrusion but allowed him to pass even as it held Obi-Wan's shock-cuffs immobile within its beam. 

Obi-Wan knew what was coming even before he heard the soft rustle of cloth. He focused on relaxing his body, breathing deeply and reaching for his center. After a moment he felt the thick penis slide against him-- prodding momentarily against his thigh before pressing forward to nestle between the cheeks of his ass. 

Obi-Wan pushed away fear and grief, intentionally focusing himself on the embers of desire, deliberately fanning them to flame. He lifted his hips and tilted backward, freely offering what he knew would soon be taken. 

Mallaigh uttered a low, feral growl, his hands closing over Obi-Wan's hipbones with bruising pressure. A tendril of Force extended, entering Obi-Wan, who let his eyes close as he accepted it, feeling it open him-- slower than he dared hope, as Mallaigh slicked himself with something Obi-Wan couldn't see, then thrust forward, hard, sinking home. 

Obi-Wan yelped and writhed, pierced deep, clenching his hands to fists and squeezing his eyes shut tight as he struggled to contain both the pain and the lust that surged through him. 

Mallaigh paused there, buried in Obi-Wan. The Sith's hands roved over him with savage greed and near-bruising power, pinching his nipples until Obi-Wan hissed, arching to lift his hips, silently begging to be taken, trying to send whatever wordless message of love he could. 

The Sith answered with a savage bite to his earlobe and a twist to the ring in his nipple. One large, gloved hand found his cock and wrung it tightly, making Obi-Wan gasp. Mallaigh began to fuck him slowly, and Obi-Wan could feel Qui-Gon's heavy balls slapping against him. The thick cock nudged his prostate, sparking flame across his nerves, and he writhed again, so hard the cuffs cut his wrists. 

Mallaigh's hand stroked his cock, ruthless and swift, a slick hot tunnel. Obi-Wan whimpered-- "oh!" and Mallaigh bit him again, fucking him with slow, deliberate power. The Sith's teeth caught the flesh of his throat, then he licked the skin he held while twisting it slowly. 

Obi-Wan shuddered, the soft ember of pain dragging him over the edge, and came helplessly, a low cry wrung from his chest. Mallaigh's hips shoved at him faster, pushing against Obi-Wan's clenching body, and he followed swiftly, the force of his last, uncontrolled thrusts twisting Obi-Wan's wrists and ankles in his bonds, body jerking as he came, his forehead falling against Obi-Wan's nape, wet with sweat. 

Obi-Wan shivered as soft lips brushed the lightest butterfly kiss against his spine-- he could not even be sure it was done with intent-- and then retreated. 

Mallaigh's cock slid out of him, spent, and Obi-Wan worked to draw air into his lungs as Mallaigh's fingertips traced the curve of his ass, touching his anus. His eyes shot open as the Sith pressed something inside of him, rapid and deft-- then one of Mallaigh's broad hands cracked savagely against the cheek of his ass, leaving a hot flush there, a handprint that Obi-Wan knew would bruise. 

He jerked away from the blow in spite of himself, belatedly trying to resume some semblance of composure. 

Mallaigh tucked himself away and re-sealed his clothing, moving to stand outside the force field, which resumed its slow rotation. He surveyed Obi-Wan for a long moment. Obi-Wan blinked, startled to see the yellow eyes fading-- more with each rotation, turning from golden to green, then to familiar dark sapphire, though the face never changed-- remote and haughty, contemptuous. 

"You wanted that, Jedi whore." Mallaigh delivered his verdict with a slow, bitter smirk. 

"Go to hell," Obi-Wan snarled, but from the look he could see in Mallaigh's eyes, the man was already there. 

He was given no clothing to cover him and he did not resist when Mallaigh turned off the force field and marched him out, bent at the waist, the Sith's hand fisted in his hair. He could feel the item the Sith had put into him, a strange foreign presence hidden inside his body, and it reassured him in spite of everything, even the horrible memory of the Dark Side boring into him through golden-flame eyes. 

Mallaigh shoved him out, stumbling, into the light, where a droid transport awaited them. They set out across the valley. Obi-Wan knelt where he had been shoved down, but he eyed Mallaigh carefully, trying to be discreet about it. The generator for the shock-cuffs and their Force-damping field now rode on the Sith's utility belt, within easy reach-- if Obi-Wan's hands were not restrained. 

A better opportunity would arise. He had to trust in that. 

Nevertheless, he found himself licking lips gone dry with nerves as they approached the spire he had climbed earlier to eavesdrop on the Separatists. The sun was setting as they disembarked, dazzling Obi-Wan's eyes. Mallaigh's fist in his hair hurt as he was shoved inside, and his wrists had begun bleeding, crimson droplets falling to the floor. 

A sudden silence fell, and by craning his neck he managed to glimpse several sets of booted feet-- the Separatists and Dooku. Mallaigh tensed, a rigid stiffening Obi-Wan sensed from the sudden change in the man's stance. The fist in his hair tightened. 

"My goodness." Dooku's rich tones feigned surprise. "Knight Kenobi, isn't it?" 

"I caught him snooping in the valley." Mallaigh shook him savagely. "He was no match for your droids." 

"How disappointing." Dooku stepped forward, eyes raking Obi-Wan thoughtfully. "He was once my former padawan's padawan, you know." He half-turned to the others. "To think I once thought of him as if he were my own grandson." 

Obi-Wan pushed away shame at his nudity and his imprisonment, tilting his face to stare up at Dooku. "You won't get away with this, Dooku. The Jedi do not share your goals!" 

"You should reconsider your actions, Knight Kenobi, if your own goals include your survival." 

"I might say the same for you," Obi-Wan managed to glare, even though he was on his knees. 

"I? But I am all that stands between you and certain disaster." Dooku smiled. "As I am a Jedi and also a High Councilor, all Jedi are under my protection. This includes you, at least for the moment." He turned aside slightly, studying the embossed and gilded carvings in the wall. "I am afraid your captor has no such compunctions." 

The Separatist Council chuckled nervously, their feet shifting. 

"Do you anticipate trouble from the Gray Jedi?" The smooth baritone voice took Obi-Wan off-guard, and he jerked his head up, losing hair to Mallaigh's iron grip-- to see Tiran standing amidst the Council, expression austere, his tall body regally clad in dark blue and silver. Obi-Wan could have groaned-- foolhardy and impetuous, another wild-card in the mix, another friend in jeopardy. "I recognize him-- he's one of their leaders. Their growing presence on my world disturbs me." 

"King Tiran, your support is most timely and Xinune is a welcome addition to the Confederacy." Dooku all but purred. "I assure you, you need not worry yourself about the Gray Jedi. As you can see, they are well in hand. My friend Mallaigh will tend to this one if he cannot see fit to mend his ways." 

"I'm pleased to hear it." 

"Kenobi is stubborn." Rough velvet in Mallaigh's voice. "He will not be persuaded." 

"Then I'm afraid I have other, more pressing business to attend." Dooku smiled benignly at Obi-Wan. "I do hope you are still functional when I return." He led the Council away and Mallaigh shoved Obi-Wan into an alcove where a shield generator waited, locking him once again inside a turning column of shimmering light. 

"How unfortunate that you have nothing to occupy your mind, Jedi." Mallaigh's tone mocked him. "Perhaps you may find the hours tedious." He reached to his belt and unclipped Obi-Wan's lightsaber, placing it on the ledge. "You will not escape to retrieve this, but I will find your desperation and your plots most entertaining." 

Obi-Wan stared defiantly at Mallaigh, his heart in his mouth, reluctant to release that hard blue gaze, but he rotated away. While his back was turned the Sith pivoted on his heel and stalked out. 

Obi-Wan could hear low conversation and occasional activity from the next room, but the voices were not loud enough to make out what was said even if he had understood Geonosian. Time stretched, seeming endless, and after a long interval he guessed that the compound had entered its night cycle, most of the personnel going dormant until morning. 

Though he couldn't hear words, he could pick up on the emotional tones, and after a time he realized that the Geonosians' calm was dissipating, giving way to agitation. Not long afterward the power source began pulsing, very subtly, the lights dimming and brightening in a chaotic pattern. Perhaps there was a storm. 

He tensed, using isometrics to flex his muscles and work out his stiffness, readying himself for his chance-- a sudden shuddering impact, the explosive crackle of a short, and blackness. Obi-Wan lunged forward instantly, crashing to the floor and rolling to his feet. His cuffs still bound him, but he was clear of the force field. 

The power returned, an emergency generator kicking in at half-strength, replacing the force field-- with him outside it. When a Geonosian flitted in to check on him, Obi-Wan brought his cuffed hands down hard on its neck, snatched his lightsaber in both hands, and sprinted for the stairs that led to the base of the spire. He moved awkwardly in the cuffs, and he could not yet sense the Force, but he was free and he was moving-- and the corridor was still empty. 

He adjusted his saber and struggled, awkward, to cut the cuffs. The one on his left arm fell away, then the right; he lengthened the saber and the ankle cuffs swiftly followed. An alarm had begun to bray, and he was bound to encounter guards. Sure enough, as he neared the spire's base a cluster of three Geonosians flitted out from a side corridor. One leveled a squat, thick-barreled gun at him, its yellow end glaring, and he ducked and rolled just as an explosive pulse burst from the gun, vaporizing a pillar that stood just behind him. Dust and chunks of stone spattered everywhere, stinging against his bare skin. 

Obi-Wan leaped forward, forcing the flittering aliens to take wing, moving too quickly for them to sight in on him. Another pulse tore a crater in the floor. 

"Find the Jedi!" He heard a distant bellow-- Mallaigh's voice. 

Obi-Wan scrambled to his feet and half ran, half fell, out of the compound and onto the exterior walkway of the spire. 

Sand scoured at his skin, half-blinding him; blinking, he could see where another spire had toppled, crashing against the one on which he stood and disrupting its power supply. The wind howled savagely at gale force, driving the desert grit before it. He could not survive for long in this wind, not without a shelter and clothing to protect his skin and eyes, but it was better than dodging the Geonosian pulse weapons. 

He raised his bound arms to shield his eyes and ran on instinct, the Force guiding him as he went slithering and half-falling down the unformed sandstone base of the spire, eyes watering. The ground abruptly flattened beneath him and he stumbled forward, reaching out with the Force to seek cover-- and heard a familiar whistle above the roar of the storm. Blinking frantically, he looked up-- his fighter had been brought and parked at the base of the pillar. 

"Open the canopy, R4!' Obi-Wan yelled, and struggled up, skin raw from the sand-blasting wind. He tumbled into the pilot's seat. 

The canopy mercifully lowered itself over him, sealing out the storm. 

"Thank you, R4." He had only minutes, at best, before pursuit caught up to them. "Take us out of here!" 

The droid whistled an affirmative and thrusters drove him into the seat as he blasted up out of the gravity well and into hyperspace before the Geonosians, inconvenienced by the sandstorm, could scramble to pursue him. R4 had already prepared his course for the rendezvous point. 

Safe in hyperspace, he heaved a sigh and tried to relax, but the discomfort of sitting reminded him suddenly of something he had nearly forgotten-- the object Mallaigh had hidden inside his body. 

A few moments' scrabbling sufficed to extract a small packet. Obi-Wan wrinkled his nose with distaste and opened the plastic wrapping, frowning as he poured three small white stones into the palm of his left hand. They felt odd, both slippery and dry, and they played havoc with his sense of the Force. He cleaned his fingers on the shredded tatters of his leggings and turned the stones over in his hand-- they skittered away from his mind, deflecting his attempts to investigate them. 

Perhaps these were why he had not been able to sense Mallaigh's presence. 

Obi-Wan's fist closed around them with sudden understanding-- Sidious would not sense the presence of the Jedi converging on him, not if they bore these stones. It was a precious gift delivered in the only way Mallaigh could be certain they would not be observed or lost before Obi-wan escaped. Obi-Wan chuckled out loud and felt tears sting at the corners of his eyes. 

He dropped out of hyperspace soon after on the far side of one of Tatooine's binary suns, carefully keeping it between his ship and the planet itself. It wouldn't do to attract the attention of the Hutt. 

Yoda's contingent also arrived within a few hours, two dozen Jedi aboard a single light cruiser. Obi-Wan hailed them, boarding to share information and regroup. He requested to be met with clothing and accepted the heavy cloak gratefully, wrapping himself in it, wishing he had leisure to bathe. Then the knight escorted him further into the ship, where Yoda waited in a private meeting area to hear his report. 

"Disturbing, your information about Dooku." Yoda shook his head sadly. "Trained him, I did, in the lightsaber. A friend I thought him." He looked at the floor for a long moment, pensive, before lifting his head. "As for King Tiran, I am not surprised. Reckless is he. Devoted to Qui-Gon." He rubbed his forehead wearily. "Useful he may be, though in grave danger." 

"I would have stopped him. We all would. But he's made his choice." Obi-Wan hesitated. "What has the Supreme Chancellor been doing?" 

"Much talk today in the Senate. Palpatine has asked for the authority to create an army and declare war should his appeal to the Separatists fail. Vote soon, the Senate will." Yoda sighed heavily. "This vote will pass, I fear. They do not know an army stands ready to serve." 

"Qui-Gon gave me these," Obi-Wan withdrew his handful of white stones, holding them out for inspection. Yoda took one, his eyes widening as he extended his senses toward it. 

"Heard of these, I have. Taozin nodules, very rare. They disrupt the Living Force, allowing the bearer to hide his Force signature." Yoda turned the white stone over in his palm. "Curious, how he came by so many of them." 

"Qui-Gon almost certainly has one; I never sensed him either before or after my capture." Obi-Wan frowned. "I assume he would want you to have one, and perhaps me, though it might be better to choose a more experienced--" 

Yoda pocketed the stone he held and waved his palm impatiently at Obi-Wan. "Yours, one is. You and I must hide our presence from Palpatine for as long as possible. The others he will not expect. He will not be able to separate them from Master Windu's Jedi." 

"We still have one left over." 

"Meant for Windu, perhaps." Yoda pursed his lips. "Or perhaps not. I cannot say. Carry it, Obi-Wan, and use it as the Force guides you." 

Yoda shuffled over to the viewport, looking out at the starfield, his hands closing on the window rim. "What will happen next, I know not. Clouded, is the Force-- more so than I can ever remember. Qui-Gon's doing, I think. He uses the Dark Side to obscure the future from the Sith just as the Sith works to conceal himself and his plans from the Jedi." 

"He's very powerful." 

"Powerful, yes." Yoda glanced up at Obi-Wan, eyes sad. "Much I have seen in your mind, Obi-Wan. Powerful is the Dark Side, and seductive. How fares Qui-Gon, think you?" 

Obi-Wan remembered the glowing golden eyes and a shiver slid down his spine, involuntary. "He gave me the taozin nodules, arranged my escape, and left my lightsaber and my ship where I could get them." Obi-Wan hesitated. "His purpose is still strong, but he has sunk deep into the Dark Side." 

"We must take care." Yoda jabbed his stick toward Obi-Wan, emphasizing his words. "Useless it would be to destroy one Sith lord only to create another." His ears drooped. "Qui-Gon must be sacrificed if he turns. Prepared, you must be, for that possibility, Obi-Wan. It is what Qui-Gon would have us do." 

Obi-Wan closed his eyes-- again, vividly recalling Tahl, the red blade protruding from her shoulders. Yoda and Qui-Gon were both right: the stakes were the future of the entire galaxy, and personal feelings could not be prioritized. 

"I will do what I must, Master Yoda," he said, his stomach hollow. 

"Good." Yoda turned back to the window, gazing out pensively, as though he could read the will of the Force in the patterns of the stars. "We will enter hyperspace in time to coordinate our arrival with the Jedi from the Temple. Communicated, I have, with Master Windu. They will expect the extra ship." He sighed. "Trust him soon, we must, and tell him our plans, or all will be lost." 

Yoda lifted his shoulders, slowly moving to looking at Obi-Wan, holding himself upright with dignity. "May the Force be with you, Knight Kenobi." 

"May it be with us all, Master Yoda." 

Yoda merely nodded, his ear-tips rising slightly. "Go and bathe yourself and rest. Sand, you are scattering." 

Obi-Wan chuckled. "Yes, master." He bowed his way out. 

*****

Though Yoda had advised him to rest, after his bath Obi-Wan found he could not sleep. His skin was raw from the wind-driven sand and his eyes still felt gritty and strained when he shut his lids. His body was sore, his flesh remembering Mallaigh's cock pushing inside him, and as he lay on his back, looking up at the shadowed bulkhead, he shifted his hips again and again as though to seek a comfortable sleeping position, savoring the faint ache that flared anew each time. 

Had he ever been padawan learner to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn? The time of his apprenticeship had receded slowly, almost without him noticing, transforming itself into a haze of near-mythological perfection. He knew it had not been so; he had been rejected, very nearly abandoned, very nearly killed, and always held at a carefully proper distance with patient, but cool, courtesy. His desire for Qui-Gon as he had felt it then had its roots in both that rejection and his own need for acceptance. Love had been born in fear and nurtured in guilt; he had fed it on silent, solitary imaginings. 

That time was not an interlude of purity and light as memory would have it, yet he ached with the desire to have back the wasted years, to stand through them unbowed with Qui-Gon Jinn whole and strong at his side. To have seen the man command his triumphant future within the Jedi Order, join the Council, raise Obi-Wan up to knighthood and cut his braid... perhaps to find a way to love him and be loved without this pall of darkness and loss cast over them both. 

But even if that had come to pass, the Sith would still be at large and this threat to the Republic would still exist-- and perhaps there would be no opposing power with a chance to counter them. 

Obi-Wan took a deep breath, breathing out regret and inhaling acceptance: _the will of the Force: things that were, and things that are, and things that yet shall be._

He rose and robed himself, cleaning the sand and grit from his lightsaber. He knotted the taozin nodules carefully into the waist of his underclothing, where he was unlikely to lose them. 

When the call came summoning the Jedi to readiness, he was prepared. He went out to join Yoda, back straight, resolved and unafraid. 

*****

They set down in a rolling, sandy valley next to a broad, shallow bowl of seats-- the Petranaki Arena-- and fanned out quickly to secure the facility for Palpatine's speech. A few dozen kilometers from the Separatists' refuge in the command center where Obi-Wan had been imprisoned, it might seem the perfect venue for a diplomatic event. 

To the Jedi it was a nightmare-- a warren, a veritable hive of tunnels and alcoves and levels, all but impossible to secure. 

Yoda remained concealed from the Coruscant Jedi, but Obi-Wan took the opportunity to explore the place as thoroughly as he could, poking into every nook and cranny and personally scouting the rooms that would accommodate Palpatine. Corridors would take him directly from his ship out onto the promontory that dominated the arena-- a crenellated outcrop that would allow the Supreme Chancellor's speech to be witnessed from anywhere else in the bowl. 

Blast shields were in place to surround the outcrop, heavy layers of both particle and ray shielding ready for the Supreme Chancellor's use. The area had been designed with both defensibility and rapid retreat in mind; a tunnel ran directly out from the anteroom at the rear of the outcrop to the exterior of the bowl, where a ship would wait to whisk him away at the slightest sign of trouble. 

His escape route would have to be blocked before any other action was taken. 

"Knight Kenobi?" Mace Windu's resonant voice brought Obi-wan to a halt at the edge of the landing platform, where he had been gazing down into the rusty desert sands, deep in thought. "I didn't expect to find you here." 

"Master Windu," Obi-Wan straightened politely. He was startled by the man's appearance; he seemed to have lost weight and gained years in only a few days, his face creased and his eyes hollow. 

"Will you come with me?" Windu asked, intent but deferential, and Obi-Wan obeyed, following him down to the waiting room that had been prepared for Palpatine. The furnishings had been removed and the room stood empty, awaiting the Chancellor's personal customization. 

Windu led Obi-Wan inside and wove a shield of silence across the doorway, pausing for a long moment before speaking. 

"I've lost more of my ability to read the Force." He sounded calm, but Obi-Wan recognized his serenity was only a mask, surface-deep. 

"As has Master Yoda." 

"I couldn't even sense you before I saw you. I can't sense you now, though I know you are standing in the same room with me." 

"The Sith are powerful." Obi-Wan hesitated. "I have taken precautions to conceal myself." 

"Whatever they are, they're working." Windu rubbed at his temple next to his left eye. "I fear the Force will fail us entirely. How long before it stops answering our call?" 

"Fear clouds your mind, master. Trust in the Force." Obi-Wan stepped next to the man, touching his shoulder with compassion. 

"Who is the Sith, Obi-Wan?" Windu asked quietly. "I must know. I suspect every face I see, every Jedi I pass-- my own friends and comrades, even the other Councilors. I haven't slept for days, but the Force is closed to me." 

"I agree. You have to know; we can't delay it any longer." Obi-Wan sighed and thumbed his commlink, signaling for Yoda. "I just don't know whether you'll believe us." He lowered his shields and focused on his memories of Dooku, moving near Windu and replaying the memory, watching the Councilor's face grow ashen. 

"Dooku." His voice choked with pain. 

"An accomplice of the Sith," Obi-Wan agreed quietly. 

"And Qui-Gon?" 

"He has gone undercover as the Sith's apprentice." 

Windu eyed Obi-Wan narrowly. "A Jedi can't go undercover as a Sith. Either you are one or you aren't." 

"But Qui-Gon is, as you say, a Gray Jedi," Obi-Wan corrected softly. "He knows the Dark Side. He has resources the rest of us do not." 

"Insane." Windu shook his head. "And you still haven't--" 

Obi-Wan brought another memory forward: Naboo. The squalor, the brooding evil. The Supreme Chancellor, benevolent and smiling, and the tense menace of the audience that followed. The pursuit of the Sith apprentice, and his demise. Qui-Gon's opportunity and his resolve. 

Windu opened his eyes when it was finished, and shook his head slowly. "Obi-Wan, this is very disturbing, but it isn't proof of your suspicions." 

"Which is why we delayed telling you. But it is true." Obi-Wan shivered. "He's controlled every faction in this drama, working every side against the others. He has clouded the Force against you, Master Windu." 

"The Supreme Chancellor wants peace!" Windu shouted, strident. "We've worked together for years. I can't believe this of him, Obi-Wan. Don't mistake me; I can see how you've been persuaded. Qui-Gon's influence over you--" 

"He holds no influence over Yoda, yet Yoda believes it too." 

"You've lured us all here planning to use us to destroy Chancellor Palpatine," Windu said slowly. "He'll be vulnerable here and you know it. Force curse me, I've brought you here myself." 

"We need your help." Obi-Wan stared at Windu in desperation. "Have you listened to the Senate proceedings since you left hyperspace?" He stepped to the wall, punching up a comm screen. "Has the vote been cast?" 

"Vote?" Windu frowned. "What vote?" 

"The Senate is in the process of voting to give the Supreme Chancellor the authority to gather an army and make war on the Separatists. His puppet, the Senator from Naboo, brought this motion." Obi-Wan displayed the relevant news broadcasts, and Windu's eyes widened. 

"The vote has passed," he said slowly, and Obi-Wan could see his mind racing. 

"You told us yourself: a clone army stands ready on Kamino," Obi-Wan reminded him softly. 

"No." Yoda's voice startled them both; they turned toward the door as one, staring down at him in startlement. 

"No?" 

"Contacted me, the Supreme Chancellor has, in the wake of the vote. Shared his information on the Geonosian droid armies and expressed his concern for his own safety. Summoned the clones here, he has, and requested that I command them. I am to use them to bolster our defenses. War, he intends, and he has furnished the armies to ensure it." Yoda rested his stick firmly on the stone. "The droids are here and the clones come." 

"He wouldn't put himself at risk, exposed between two forces like that. Not unless he's sincere in his wish for peace." Windu shook his head, grasping at straws. 

"Risk this, he will. Much at stake, he feels. Here, he must be, to control events as he will have them!" Yoda thumped his stick for emphasis. "Realize, you must, that the Force is clouded against him as well, Master Windu. Qui-Gon has made it so." 

Windu hesitated, looking between the two of them. "If this is true, he means for the Jedi to be caught between the hammer and the anvil. Our forces will be destroyed." 

"Tomorrow he will speak. The Separatists will vote to reject his offer and they'll call up their droid armies to attack him. He'll retaliate with the clones and be away before the first shots are ever fired. That speech will sell him as a hero to the Republic even as his plans for war are brought to pass. You must see this!" Obi-Wan appealed, desperate. 

"Our word against his, it is." Yoda fixed Windu with a stern stare. "Who will you believe, Master Windu? To make you see the truth, will it take war?" 

"I want to talk to Qui-Gon." 

"Produce Qui-Gon on demand, we cannot." Yoda glared up at him with frustration. "And even if we could, he is not as you remember him." 

"I remember he was always a pain in the ass. It doesn't sound like he's changed at all." Windu laughed hollowly, a faint shadow of humor. 

Yoda tilted his head, eyes suddenly keen. "Have you suspicion enough to take the Supreme Chancellor into custody for questioning?" 

Windu hesitated. "Yes, I believe so." 

"Then when his speech is done, confront him we will. Arrest him for questioning. Convince you then, his reaction will." Yoda lifted his chin. "Be silent, you will, until he is tested?" 

"Agreed." Windu extended his hand, and Yoda clasped it, then Obi-Wan. 

Obi-Wan's eyes met Yoda's while they shook on the deal. He grimaced; it was a gamble, but right now it was the game that offered the best odds in the house. He released Windu's hand and fumbled at his belt, pulling out the extra taozin nodule. 

"Take this, Master Windu: a gift from Darth Mallaigh in earnest of our good faith." Obi-Wan smiled wryly. "Carry it with you. It will offer you concealment from the Sith-- or the rest of us-- should you need it." 

Windu's hand closed around the white stone, his eyes widening as he sensed its power. "Thank you, Obi-Wan." 

"It's nothing." Obi-Wan smirked wryly. "Just don't ask how I got it." 

Yoda cackled all the way down the hall.

*******************

GLOSSARY

Acklay - The big crab-like thing that attacked Obi-Wan in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

Agen Kolar: A member of the Jedi High Council, skilled with the lightsaber. See Wookieepedia 

Caltrop field: A field of spikes set into the desert of Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Electro-proton bomb: Item used by Darth Mallaigh to neutralize battle droids on Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

E'Y-Akh Desert: A desert on Geonosis, known for rolling sand dunes. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosis: A planet with a ring of debris, the site of droid foundaries that use the planetary ring for mining purposes, and the chosen base of the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosian Spire: An artificial construct, a pillared spiral tower set atop a sandstone bluff. Found in profusion on Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosis droid foundries: The droid production lines on Geonosis, upon which B1, B2, and droideka destroyers are produced for the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosian War Room: The command center in which the Separatists meet, and from which Dooku monitors the progress of the First Battle of Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Gray Jedi: Used ambiguously to describe both Force users who manipulate the Dark Side without surrendering to it, and mavericks who deny the will of the Jedi High Council on Coruscant. See Wookieepedia 

LAAT/i: Low Altitude Assault Transport (infantry). Ships for the transportation and rapid deployment of clone troopers. See Wookieepedia 

Mallaigh's hangar: A hangar set into an abandoned aquatic defense factory once run inside sandstone formation in the desert on Geonosis. This is the same place employed by Count Dooku for spaceship storage in Attack of the Clones, therein known as Dooku's hangar. See Wookieepedia 

Master of the Order: The elected head of the Jedi High Council. Second in rank only to the Grand Master, if the two ranks are not held by the same person. This rank is held by Mace Windu, both in this story and in pre-AOTC canon. See Wookieepedia 

Nexu: Big toothy cat that attacked Amidala in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

N'ge'u Valley: The valley beneath the sandstone formation where Mallaigh's hangar is located. See Wookieepedia 

Petranaki arena: The red sandstone arena in which public executions are held for entertainment purposes on Geonosis. Also used by chancellor Palpatine as a venue from which to broadcast his diplomatic appeal to the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Reek: Big, horned reddish critter that attacked Anakin in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

_Sai cha:_ Beheading an opponent with the lightsaber, usually reserved for extremely dangerous foes who have resisted milder attacks. See Wookieepedia 

Shatterpoint: A Force-user's perception of weakness in an individual or situation, where careful application of pressure will create unexpectedly violent change or destructive result. This can be regarded as analogous to the cleavage planes in a crystal, indicating where and how the crystal will break under pressure-- but used in this sense, it is usually applied to persons or political events. Mace Windu can often see such shatterpoints and use them to his political advantage. For example, in prequel trilogy canon, just before he is killed, Windu sees that Palpatine's faith in Anakin Skywalker is his shatterpoint, and that it will eventually bring about his destruction. See Wookieepedia 

Sora Bulq: Weequay Jedi Master, master of all forms of lightsaber combat, turned to the Dark Side by his attempt to master vaapad, and recruited by Dooku to serve Palpatine's interests. In this story, he's recruited a bit earlier than in canon. See Wookieepedia 

Wall of Light: A power that could only be mustered by several linked Light Side Force users, it can be used to cut a Dark Side user off from the Force, often with agonizing or even fatal effects, such as planet-wide firestorms. See Wookieepedia


	2. Showdown

The morning of the Supreme Chancellor's speech dawned bright and clear with no sandstorms anticipated. Obi-Wan gazed out into the bowl of the Petranaki Arena, watching Geonosians arrive to take up their places in the stands. A combat exhibition was scheduled to precede the speech-- a Dramacore specialty broadcast. Various unpleasant creatures were being installed in holding pens below the seating and several tall pillars stood in the center of the floor, awaiting the arrival of champions who would battle the beasts for the crowd's amusement. 

The whole spectacle reeked of pageantry, stirring Obi-Wan's most unpleasant memories. He shifted to ease stiffness in his muscles, reaching to the Force to seek some hint of the future, but it offered nothing, the images he sensed remaining muddy and inchoate. 

He watched Windu dispersing his team around the amphitheater, placing them strategically next to main tunnels and passages. Five hundred Jedi-- a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of droids Obi-Wan knew lay concealed beneath the desert floor. 

He could not feel Yoda's presence, but he knew the Grand Master had gone to meet the clone ships. Yoda would already be waiting with the clone troopers under his command, preparing to bring them in even as Palpatine gave his speech. Dooku's presence was tangible, but seemed remote; he was doubtless busy with the Separatists. Mallaigh, of course, could not be sensed. 

Obi-Wan glanced up to the promontory where Palpatine would speak. Masters Drallig and Kolar stood there, calmly overlooking the arena, ready to serve as the Supreme Chancellor's special guard-- two of the best fighters Windu had been able to bring. Windu would join them there himself before the speech began, and together the three would attempt to arrest Palpatine and block his way back to his ship when it was over. 

Not that it would be difficult. Obi-Wan was prepared to handle the Chancellor's ship himself. He had carefully planned a route to the landing platform and carried a pair of thermal detonators on his belt, each containing a payload precisely calculated to destroy a ship of the requisite size. He also had a pouch full of concussion grenades to block tunnel routes, as did several of the other Jedi, Windu and Drallig included. 

All that remained was for the Supreme Chancellor to arrive, an event scheduled to occur just after the sun reached its zenith. 

Obi-Wan watched as Geonosians entered the arena, a few of them wandering up through the warren of tunnels, but many more simply flying in, their gossamer wings gleaming in the sun, which produced the busy feeling of a hive-- which, he supposed, it was. Their wings shifted continually, catching the light, giving the place an unpleasant look as if the walls were alive and crawling. It was probably a good thing that most of the audience could fly. If things didn't go well they'd need to evacuate quickly in order to survive the day. 

Obi-Wan shuddered, a chill working its way along his spine, and frowned down into the arena. An armored keeper was still trying to drive his charge, a reluctant acklay, into its cage. It skittered about on its crab-claws, evading the portal, until a handful of Geonosians managed to prod it into the waiting darkness and slam the gate shut behind it. 

He stepped out of the sunlight into the corridor behind him, checking his chrono and hearing a cheer go up from the audience as the champions paraded around the sandy battle arena. Obi-Wan was glad not to be among them.

He hated this set-up, and the thing that distressed him most of all was the danger to Qui-Gon. As if Palpatine, Dooku, and dual armies of robots and clones weren't enough, over 500 Jedi stood guard in the arena, and only three of them knew not to attack Darth Mallaigh on sight. The others had only been told to expect trouble, possibly from a Sith, and to expect further orders. 

Obi-Wan waited impatiently as the arena combats progressed-- after the acklay followed a reek, then a nexu. He missed most of the final battle while watching the sky as Palpatine's ship descended through the atmosphere. After it vanished below the rim of the arena he could feel the faint vibrations of the heavy ship settling on its landing pad. A belly-clenching wash of adrenaline sang through him as his body anticipated the battle to come. 

He could only stand and wait for the appointed moment, hoping the Sith Lord didn't sense the trap and flee. After a tense interval that lasted so long it sent Obi-Wan's heart fluttering into his throat, Palpatine walked out onto the promontory, white hair shining in the sunlight. 

Obi-Wan's relief nearly buckled his knees. He took a deep breath, watching as the man stepped forward and raised his hands to ask for silence. Then as Palpatine began to speak he slipped into the tunnel and headed for the landing pad at a swift trot. 

The tunnels were nearly empty. Geonosians and Jedi alike had all gathered out in the arena where Palpatine's speech had begun, resonating through the entire place in sonorous, measured phrases. Obi-Wan could hear the echoes of it penetrating deep inside the tunnels as he made his way down-- only to find that the Chancellor's ship was not unguarded. 

"Master Bulq." Obi-Wan stepped out onto the platform, bowing his head politely. 

"Kenobi." Bulq recognized him, stepping slightly forward, but Obi-Wan could feel the Weequay's distrust. "I wasn't aware you had been chosen for this mission." 

"I was assigned by Master Yoda," Obi-Wan explained, but Bulq's keen eyes rested on his belt, noting the unusual array of weapons there, and rose to assess him coolly. Bulq's hand moved to rest on the hilt of his lightsaber. 

"Why have you left your guard post?" 

"Master Windu is concerned for the Supreme Chancellor's safety. He asked me to come here and send you up. Code authorization 7-theta." 

Bulq's eyes narrowed at the correct code, but he didn't move. "Why didn't he comm me?" 

"You know as well as I that comm frequencies can be intercepted." 

"I'm not leaving my post on your word." 

Obi-Wan's stomach flipflopped, his mind racing. "I'm afraid I must stay." He watched as Bulq's left hand slid nearer to his shoto, and he pushed back his cloak to give free access to his own lightsaber. 

Bulq smiled, bitter, and drew both his blades. "Then it's most unfortunate that you couldn't remember the correct codes." His lightsabers extended, the dual hum throbbing slightly out of sync, his full-length blade in his right hand and the shorter shoto in his left. 

Obi-Wan ignited his own lightsaber, reaching hastily for the defensive paranoia that served to enhance Soresu, and met the incoming flurry of savage attacks, backing away. 

Bulq was one of the three best blademasters of the Order. Obi-Wan had faced him most recently in his Trials and knew the man's ferocity. He dodged a thrust that could have gutted him, weaving around the shoto and bringing his saber back inline to parry yet another savage swing and thrust combination, whirling and riposting, his swings parried with a brutal force that nearly shuddered his lightsaber out of his hand. 

The Weequay master glanced aside for a heartbeat's time and Obi-Wan heard the clang of a portcullis sliding across the single door that might have afforded escape. Bulq smiled, his dark face a rictus of anger. 

"You won't leave this platform alive, traitor," he promised and waded in, both blades a blur as he attacked. 

Obi-Wan flipped over Bulq's head to gain time and ground, his reach limited by the platform's small diameter. Armed with two weapons, Bulq could launch two or more attacks for each of Obi-Wan's own defensive moves; the master kept him running, unable to venture an attack. 

In the training ring, for his Trials, he'd only had to avoid a touch. Here things were different. Soresu was almost purely a defensive form and using it in a real battle meant Obi-Wan had to wait for his opponent to leave an opening or make an error-- which Sora Bulq would not do. 

He retreated before the attack, resorting to aerials as often as he dared. They helped him keep from being pushed right off the platform while he let Master Bulq exhaust his first frenzy of energy. Then Obi-Wan would change his tactics. 

Bulq didn't slow as he settled into the rhythm of the fight, leading with his lightsaber and following with short, savage thrusts of the shoto, which dipped and wove viciously, clipping the shoulder of Obi-Wan's tunic as he flipped again. If anything, Bulq began to gain momentum as his confidence grew. 

Obi-Wan stepped back, circling along the edge of the platform, trying to put the ship's landing gear between them. Bulq withdrew, unwilling to damage the Chancellor's ship, and stalked Obi-Wan as he sidestepped. The Weequay's brow furrowed, giving only an instant's warning before he threw up his hand, the Force-push rippling the air and nearly dislodging Obi-Wan from his precarious position. He felt his heels slide out over empty air and leaped forward. On his hands and knees, he barely got his saber up in time to block a slice that would have bisected him from head to waist. He launched forward without rising, striking Bulq's knees and toppling him, the shoto scoring a sparking gouge in the platform right next to his ear. 

Obi-Wan rolled to his feet, backing again-- defense was not enoug, and time was wasting. He could sacrifice himself, deploying his thermal detonator and blowing up both the ship and the platform with them on it. But then he would be no more help in the battle to destroy the Sith-- and no help in saving Qui-Gon. 

Bulq lunged in, his hair whipping with the ferocity of his attack, and his blade just kissed Obi-Wan's thigh, a flare of pain, before Obi-Wan leaped away. 

It was time to slide into Ataru, but the enhancements he could achieve with joy would not be enough to defeat Bulq. 

Desperate, Obi-Wan reached for all that was left to him: bitterness, frustration, his anger at being attacked by a fellow Jedi, and his fear for Qui-Gon. The dark emotions flooded in eagerly. 

Bulq laughed. "Gray Jedi. Dark Jedi. You betray yourself, Kenobi." 

Obi-Wan ignored him, feeling the incredible wash of power flooding through him with his anger-- feeding the anger, expanding it, building it almost beyond what he could contain. 

"You too are dark, Sora Bulq." He waded in, exultant at the sudden certainty of victory that filled him. His lightsaber sang and whined, moving faster than thought, a sweeping slice that forced Bulq to leap away. This time it was his turn to press forward, making Bulq use both his blades to stop each attack, robbing him of his speed and cunning. 

Bulq's face tightened, air hissing through his nostrils. He brought his saber about, a nasty uppercut thrust that Obi-Wan easily evaded. 

"Who have you allied with?" Obi-Wan could feel the man's shields fading like ice melting under the withering force of his rage. "Dooku?" 

Bulq did not waste his breath on an answer, slashing at Obi-Wan's belly with his shoto, stepping inside a sweep of Obi-Wan's blade and nearly scoring, bringing his lightsaber around behind Obi-Wan's head, but Obi-Wan jumped out of its path, landing atop the Chancellor's ship. Bulq followed with a light leap and Obi-Wan spun, launching a swarm of short attacks. He worked his blade furiously, driving Bulq back toward the edge of the ship, where a hundred-meter drop awaited. 

Fury pulsed through Obi-Wan, intoxicating; his perceptions stretched. Bulq seemed to move in slow motion, each attack broadly telegraphed, laughably easy to anticipate and thwart. Obi-Wan kicked the man's knee out from under him, then slashed his thigh as he rolled. Another kick increased Bulq's momentum. The Weequay barely caught himself, dangling from the ship's hull, his hands locked around a support strut. 

Before he could react Obi-Wan stamped down, heel crushing the fingers of one dark hand. Bulq released his remaining grip; his shoto rose, stabbing at Obi-Wan's calf as he tried to somersault and regain the platform. 

Obi-Wan, still sunk deep in the slow-motion of his heightened awareness, reached out with the Force and pushed-- and Bulq spun away, cartwheeling toward the ground far below, his scream echoing in the desert. 

Obi-Wan could hear himself laughing, laughing in a madness of triumphant fury-- the Dark Side thick and hot in him, taking his center. 

He jumped down from the ship, a fragment of his mind flailing at the battle lust, the fury and the joy and the hate, trying to prick the bubble that enveloped him-- then he found a place to send it. He focused on the ship and shoved, throwing the dark Force out of him with all his might, pushing all the dark energy from him. The ship's landing gear squealed horribly, rending the platform-- he thrust harder, forcing darkness out, breathing in the light, tasting the air instead of blood-hot rage; the ship tilted, scraping across the edge of the platform, then fell, spinning free. It struck the side of the arena and its fuel cells ignited with a white-hot thump, a backwash of flame singeing Obi-Wan as it flared across the platform. 

He fell to his knees, gasping, but he was free-- free but tainted, a film of darkness spattered through his soul, waiting to be recalled. 

There was no time to waste on guilt. 

Obi-Wan forced himself to his feet, assessing his injuries-- a couple of minor burns, nothing more. He sliced through the portcullis and let it clang onto the platform, stepping into the hall beyond. 

Had Palpatine overheard the exploding fuel cells? The cries of the crowd might have masked them, but likely not. 

He moved up the corridor, gauging distance carefully, then tossed one of his concussion grenades to block the corridor behind. That would be felt, without doubt, even if the ship's destruction had gone undetected. 

He sprinted up the tunnel toward the Supreme Chancellor as the grenade detonated, sealing the tunnel-- there would be no escape from that landing platform even if another ship was brought in. 

He could hear the Chancellor's voice echoing as he neared the end of the tunnel and sensed that Palpatine was bringing his speech to an early conclusion. 

"There are many on both sides of this grand debate eager to turn this dispute into war. It needn't degenerate into so wasteful an outcome. Together, we have the intelligence and the reason to find an alternative solution," Palpatine summed up, his voice sounding calm and unhurried despite the explosions.

"I appeal to your sensibilities. I know you are proponents of peace... we have much in common, for it is the inefficiencies of the Republic that are the focus of my Chancellery. The solution lies not in insurrection; rather, we will reach it through reform. The system can work, and together we will make it work. I am available to confer this very day, should you wish it." 

Obi-Wan could see him now though the doorway at the top of the tunnel. The man bowed, the crowd applauding him, light shifting on their shimmering wings. 

Obi-Wan neared the portal onto the promontory, finding Windu, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto waiting there. He greeted them with a nod. A pair of Palpatine's crimson-cloaked Red Guards preceded him into the tunnel, the Chancellor following directly behind them, then two more Red Guards followed by Masters Drallig and Kolar. 

Windu pressed forward into the Chancellor's path. "In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest, Chancellor." 

Palpatine fell still, his eyes like chips of polar ice. "On what charges?" 

"Charges that you have acted to consolidate power in defiance of your authority as Chancellor and taken unauthorized actions with intent to precipitate war." 

Palpatine inflated visibly, cold fury suffusing his face. "On the eve of the greatest anti-war initiative known to this Republic, you have the audacity to make such an accusation?" 

"I do, and I believe I can prove my claims." 

"Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" Palpatine darted a glance to his guards, who immediately leveled their force-pikes at Windu, purple-white energy discharge sparking from the tips. 

"You will be tried before the Senate," Windu told him levelly. "You will have ample opportunity to prove your innocence." 

"The Senate has no authority over me!" Palpatine snapped. "This is treason!" 

"I also believe you have ties to the Sith and that you have conspired to destroy the Jedi Order," Windu continued, undeterred, his face stony. "Come quietly, or you admit your guilt." He ignited his lightsaber, the purple-white blade ready to defend against the guards. 

Palpatine's face convulsed, a rictus of rage. Quick as thinking, he shook his sleeve. A hilt fell into his hand, igniting into a blood-red blade. He struck down Saesee Tiin before the Jedi ever had time to react. 

Windu darted between the Red Guards, meeting Palpatine's lunge with his own lightsaber, a furious crackle of energy flaring as they traded blows. Obi-Wan severed the end of one force pike and his strike continued, removing the arm from the guard who wielded it, shearing through the crimson armor. His comrades' lesser blades glanced off the Mandalorian iron armor the guards wore beneath their robes. 

"Help Windu," Obi-Wan commanded shortly as he addressed himself to a second guard, weaving around the crackling pike and beheading the guard before he could draw his blaster. He whirled, finding the first guard struggling to aim and fire his blaster left-handed. With a quick flick of his wrist Obi-Wan sliced through the weapon. Its power pack exploded in the guard's face and he pitched forward, knocked unconscious by the shock-wave. Obi-Wan administered the _coup de grace_ as he stepped over the man, unable to afford the luxury of mercy. 

The other guards, given more time to react, had drawn blasters and were targeting the Councilors, but Obi-Wan couldn't press through the melee to stop them. He reached down and snatched the blaster from the beheaded guard instead, sighting and firing, taking out one of the remaining two. The other evaded him, shielded behind the fight. 

Obi-Wan dropped the blaster when he heard Palpatine cry out in triumph. Kolar fell, his throat sliced half-through, eyes already glazing. The remaining Red Guard caught Drallig between the shoulders with his force pike and Drallig screamed, nearly falling. Palpatine reached out with his free hand, lightning crackling from his fingertips, exploding against Drallig's chest. The master convulsed and fell, his charred robes smoking. 

Windu used the moment of distraction to press forward, working them back up the tunnel toward the promontory. 

Fisto managed to push past Windu and Palpatine, engaging the remaining Red Guard. Obi-Wan could not stop to check Drallig's pulse; he rushed forward to fight at Windu's side, helping force Palpatine up and out. 

The man fought like a demon, wielding his lightsaber with a skill unimaginable in someone of his age and sedentary habits. He grimaced horribly, raising his hand, and lightning crackled forth again. Windu caught it on the blade of his lightsaber, holding it locked, and Obi-Wan ducked under the sizzling bolt, aiming a slash at Palpatine's knees. Palpatine retreated, snarling, and an arc of lightning caught Obi-Wan, curling around his shoulder and face. 

The electric current robbed Obi-Wan of his muscle control. He fell writhing on the floor, incapable of defending against the red blade that slashed down toward him-- barely intercepted by Windu's violet one. 

The lightning spewed free, crackling around the tunnel and curling around Windu. He collapsed half-atop Obi-Wan as Fisto, finally finishing the last Red Guard, kicked Palpatine in the back. The Sith stumbled, losing his lightsaber, falling and tumbling down the corridor after it. 

Fisto pursued as Obi-Wan and Windu lurched upright. The aftermath of the lightning left Obi-Wan twitchy and aching. Windu looked even worse, his bald head sporting raw red burns in a fractal pattern from the electrical arc. 

They hurried after Fisto, but it was too late-- outclassed and unsupported he fell, casually run through by the red blade. Palpatine spat a curse at them and turned, fleeing with the Force speeding his steps. He vanished swiftly into the gloom. 

"I destroyed his ship and sealed the tunnel," Obi-Wan gasped. "He won't get out that way." 

"He's impossibly skilled." Windu shook his head. "I'm not sure we can take him." 

"We have to. Come on." 

They trailed Palpatine down to the blockage, then into a side tunnel. It led upward, back to the arena. All the Geonosians had vanished now, leaving only a thicket of lightsabers and blaster bolts visible through the circle of daylight at the end of the tunnel. 

Obi-Wan put on an extra burst of speed and emerged into the light a few steps ahead of Windu. Palpatine moved laterally, carving a grisly swath through the startled Jedi positioned at intervals along the tier. The floor of the arena was overrun with battle droids, their blaster bolts whining and sizzling through the air like angry hornets; more marched out of the tunnels into the tiers. 

B1 and B2 battle droids stamped up through the tunnels into the stands and out from the lanes into the arena, more and more pouring in every second. Obi-Wan could hear a waxing roar of engines over the whine of lasers-- Yoda and the clones, he assumed, the timing of their arrival disrupted by the shortening of Palpatine's speech. Droidekas rolled around the floor of the arena, sighting and firing into the stands; even as Obi-Wan watched Jedi fell. 

He tore after Palpatine, breath coming harshly in his lungs, Windu hot on his heels. An engine throbbed directly overhead; Obi-Wan split his attention to look up and recognized Mallaigh's ship. A few droids targeted it, their bolts splashing harmlessly off its belly and wings. 

Then something dropped from the belly of the ship, striking almost softly in the exact center of the arena, sitting for an instant in its own crater before it exploded. 

A wild pulse of ionized energy slammed through Obi-Wan, its purple-white flare eclipsing the sun, sending him tumbling against a row of seating and forcing all the oxygen from his lungs. It expanded in a shrieking bubble of charge, electric flares crackling along its surface, before it finally burst and dissipated. 

He struggled upright, struggling to see through the seared after-image on his retinas, and realized all the droids had slumped to stillness, their circuits wiped by the ion pulse of the electro-proton bomb. 

\--As were the ship's. 

Its engines faltered and stalled and it dropped like a stone, crashing to the sand, the shock from the impact tumbling Obi-Wan against the seats again. Even as he fell, he spotted a dark figure suspended in mid-leap from the ship's upper hull, arcing and flipping over to land lightly on the arena tier. 

"You!" Palpatine spat, his voice thick and shrill with hate. "I will destroy you," he screamed, rage amplifying his voice, shaking the entire amphitheater. 

Lightsabers spat and crackled, and Obi-Wan forced himself to his feet, stumbling forward, regaining his equilibrium as he ran. Windu limped behind him, his leg injured in the fall he had sustained when the pulse's shockwave hit. 

Sand rained everywhere, thrown by the crashing ship, and Obi-Wan felt his senses stretch again, the sand pattering down in slow motion as he sprinted toward the fight, fear filling him, launching him forward to help defeat Palpatine. 

Sabers shrieked and whined in wild strokes that did not score. Mallaigh's superior height and reach served him well, but Palpatine was faster. His darting strikes pushed Mallaigh back. Obi-Wan sought for rage again without thinking, and found it all too ready to answer, waiting for his call. 

He struck at Palpatine, screaming aloud, and the Sith whirled to face him, flinging a ball of lightning at his head. Obi-Wan knocked it away and it impacted harmlessly in the stands. Mallaigh used the moment of distraction to hook Palpatine's boot with his own, intending nto bring him crashing to the ground, but the Sith Lord snarled and jumped instead, somersaulting to the next tier.

Palpatine's eyes closed and droid bodies pelted Obi-Wan and Mallaigh, whirling in a vortex around Palpatine's outstretched hands. The Sith Lord laughed, exultant, the missiles swirling faster. Obi-Wan slashed at one but another struck his shoulder, driving him to his knees and sending his lightsaber skittering away. 

Mallaigh roared and sprang, driving his blade down at Palpatine. The projectiles faltered and fell as they engaged again, Palpatine's focus drawn away from the mental attack. 

"Wall of Light! To me, Jedi! Link to make a Wall of Light!" Windu bellowed, and the others began to respond, sprinting around the arena to answer his call. 

The thunder of engines reached a painful pitch, and a handful of LAAT/i ships filled with armored clones crested the walls of the arena. 

"Surround the survivors!" Yoda shouted, voice almost inaudible below the throbbing thump of the engines. "More droids incoming will be!" 

Obi-Wan rolled his shoulder in its socket to test it, and finding it sound he sprang, joining Mallaigh again. They pressed Palpatine between the two of them, keeping him on the defensive. 

Palpatine bellowed his fury-- his face distorting, the masking power of the Force ebbing from him as he concentrated on the fight. His brow rippled, yellow skin thickening, his cheeks sagging, his mouth spreading into a rictus of snaggled teeth and hate. 

Force struck Obi-Wan, driving him back; Palpatine whirled to face Mallaigh and lightning sprang from his fingers again. 

Yoda's LAAT/i circled near the battle, and he launched a tumbling flip straight from the deck of the ship. Before ever landing, he caught the lightning in his hand, squeezing it into a ball, and as his feet touched the ground he flung it back at Palpatine, who screamed, veins standing out in his neck, then dropped all pretense at battle and fled, scrabbling in his pocket. 

His hand came out with a communicator, and he shouted into it in a frenzy. "Clone troops. Execute Order S--" 

Mallaigh summoned lightning of his own and it struck Palpatine between his shoulder-blades. He dropped the communicator, muscles jerking from the agony of the blast. Mallaigh ground the comlink beneath his heel and his lightsaber flashed downward as the lightning charge vanished. Palpatine's own sprang up again, deflecting it. 

Obi-Wan could feel light-side energy pulsing around Windu, and the Jedi joining him, building a shield of Light Side energy and preparing to slam it down, eradicating all darkness that might be trapped inside-- and possibly much more. 

"NO!" He screamed at them. "You'll catch Qui-Gon in the wall!" 

"There's no choice!" Windu bellowed back, energy still gathering as more Jedi joined the link. "We can't let Palpatine escape!" 

Qui-Gon, too, held energy-- a dark flare that matched Windu's light, strengthening. Obi-Wan felt the Force whisper to him. 

"Wait. I can help him!" Obi-Wan shouted, and flung himself toward the combat, moments behind Yoda. 

"Master Yoda, join with us!" He reached out to Mallaigh, letting the dark rise to encompass him. He felt Yoda hesitate, then yield, reaching to join them. 

Red-hot exultation and fury surged in the Force: Mallaigh's hatred, Obi-Wan's terror for Qui-Gon's life and soul, Yoda's anguish and fury at the number of the dead. They seared together and flared. Mallaigh channeled it all, focusing the power in a whipcrack of savage pressure-- 

And Palpatine simply imploded. His scream transcended human ears and seared straight into the psychic, driving the Jedi to their knees. The first manifestation of the Wall of Light dissipated as the Jedi reeled under the impact, their concentration shattered. 

A blood-mist spattered to the stones as Palpatine's soul dispersed, a psychic wavefront exploding from the place of his death. 

It knocked all but Mallaigh to their knees. Mallaigh stood upright, and the energy whirled around him, seeking him out and centering on him as the most powerful locus of the dark. 

With an effort, Obi-Wan splintered his consciousness away from Mallaigh's and felt Yoda leave the link with him; the dark energies bled out of their minds, called by the purple and black cloud gathering around Mallaigh, leaving them emptied and gasping. 

Mallaigh straightened, raising his arms to the sky, his eyes pulsing golden-red with power, a guttural laugh hoarse in his throat. 

"No," Obi-Wan whispered, voice breaking, but Mallaigh was beyond him. 

The man turned and the arena shuddered as one after the other, the droid carcasses glowed red and detonated, molten shrapnel scattering. The Dark Force spread out in concentric rings of destruction, powdering stone and evaporating metal. 

The ground shook, and Obi-Wan realized the destruction was not limited to the arena. Billowing clouds of orange flame thumped up into the sky from all directions-- the droid foundries and the control ships, devastation expanding rapidly in a widening circular inferno, wrought by the overload of pure dark power. The sky filled with fire and black smoke, and still Mallaigh laughed, his hands wreathed in power so intense it glowed, his body a torch tipped with purple-white flame. 

Windu shouted, unhearable beneath the roar of the destruction; Obi-Wan felt the beginnings of the Wall of Light gather again. The Jedi prepared to slam it over Mallaigh, to cut him off and shield him, then crush it in and destroy the new Sith Lord before he could rise against them. 

Obi-Wan too reached out desperately, as Qui-Gon had once shown him, and took the measure of the dark. Anger, pain, fury, yes-- but there was good there, too. Trapped at the core of the Dark Side vortex, Mallaigh lacked the single-minded black hatred, the penetrating evil, of a true Sith. 

Obi-Wan stood, ignoring the rain of red-hot metal, the half-melted stone, and the crackling flames from the burning carcasses of the battle droids. He stepped forward, pressing against the tidal force of the power, feeling it flare and struggle against him. 

Yoda lifted his head but did not speak. He raised himself to his elbows, then his knees. Obi-Wan stepped past him, hands outstretched, pushing forward through the darkness as it scoured the air around him. It tore at his clothes, singeing his hair, but he pressed on, ignoring it-- one step, another, another. Over a shattered pillar, around a cratered hole in the tier, past a jet of flame. 

Mallaigh's head turned; the Sith was aware of his approach now, the gold-and-red eyes centered on him, his brow furrowing, corded veins pulsing in his forehead, his entire body shuddering with strain. 

Obi-Wan smiled and opened his heart. 

"Qui-Gon," he called softly. "Qui-Gon, come back." 

The Sith faltered and Obi-Wan took another step, then another. It was easier now as the dark power lost certainty, spiraling out in search of focus, lashing everything it touched, but fading slowly at first, then faster, a flicker of green appearing in the golden eyes. 

Obi-Wan reached out and carefully laid his palm in the center of Qui-Gon's chest, stroking lightly across the singed and dried leather under his fingertips. "I love you," he said softly. "Come back to me." 

Mallaigh blinked and his arms fell to his sides, hands shaking. The shuddering explosions stopped and the crackle of the flames was all that remained, underscored with the faint groaning of strained stone. 

Obi-Wan lifted his head, sliding his hands up, and pulled Mallaigh's head down, kissing him softly, then releasing him. 

...When his eyes opened, they were blue. 

The other Jedi stared, stunned beyond speech, as Qui-Gon Jinn crumpled into Obi-Wan's arms, consciousness leaving him. 

Obi-Wan caught him before he struck the ground, lowering him gently and then cradling the big body in his arms, lifting him tenderly and carrying him back to Yoda, who helped him, reaching out with the Force to ease his burden. 

"Free, Dooku still is. He must still be dealt with." 

Limping steps neared-- Windu sprinted along the tier toward them, a dozen Jedi in his wake. "We've got to take the clones after Dooku," he eyed them warily. "Are you... well enough to fight?" 

"Turned, we have not," Yoda answered with some asperity. 

"Someone will have to stay with him." Obi-Wan still held Qui-Gon's head in his lap. His face was ashen, his cheeks sunken almost as if in death, his powerful body still. Only his pulse betrayed signs of life, his heartbeat faint but steady. 

"I will." Two Jedi had come near; between them, they supported Cin Drallig, who looked nearly as bad as Qui-Gon. They helped settle him next to Obi-Wan. "I'll stay with him." Drallig's eyes closed, his lips thin with pain. 

"Master Drallig! I'm glad you survived." Obi-Wan's relief was sincere, if short-lived; he knew many Jedi, some of them dear friends, had not been so fortunate. 

"You and you," Windu instructed Drallig's helpers. "Gather the injured and start triage and treatment." He held out a hand to Obi-Wan, who left Qui-Gon reluctantly. "Come on. We have a traitor to catch." 

*****

The surviving Jedi jumped down from the tiers and poured into the LAAT/i ships, which took wing over the desert. Obi-Wan clung to his handhold, riding the lurch and sway of the ship, working to center himself in the moment-- too much of him wanted to worry about Qui-Gon. 

And that wasn't all. Too much of him wanted to reach out and see how much dark power he could call; the Force that surrounded him now felt pale and weak. He pushed the impulse away firmly, glancing aside to Yoda. Yoda's sober eyes waited for him, and when their gazes met, the Grand Master shook his head once, lips pursing, a silent warning. 

Obi-Wan nodded and looked away, drawing a deep breath of smoky air, firming his resolve. So this was to be the price? A constant temptation, a sense of loss and weakness, a thick film of darkness permanently coating his mind and spirit, waiting to be summoned? 

So be it; he would honor Qui-Gon and he would pay that price willingly. 

"I don't know how far that magnetic pulse traveled, but those bombs have a limited range," Windu shouted to Obi-Wan, the wind tearing at his words as the ship accelerated. "We could encounter more droids." 

"I think Qui-Gon blew up the droid foundries," Obi-Wan yelled back. "I've never seen one man channel so much power." 

"Dark Side overload, it was." Yoda moved closer, bracing himself on Obi-Wan's leg, claws clutching in the fabric of his leggings. "Stored power released by the Sith Lord at his death combined with power drawn by Darth Mallaigh and power drawn by the two of us. Call so much, one man could not, but direct it, he did." 

As they continued, the evidence agreed with Obi-Wan-- huge craters scarred the ground, flames leaping in their depths, oily smoke billowing out. A few droids survived, but their blaster bolts were easily turned with sabers or impacted harmlessly on the armored surface of the transports. 

"Do you think Qui-Gon has turned permanently?" Windu asked Yoda quietly. The Grand Master shrugged and looked to Obi-Wan for his answer. 

"I can't say." Obi-Wan's fist tightened on the grip strap. "I sensed Qui-Gon there, inside Mallaigh, but I don't know how hard he'll find it to come back to the light." 

"Help him, you can." 

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "I should be there when he wakes." 

They swooped down toward the spire, Jedi and clones pouring out of the transports and swarming into the structure. Yoda held out his hand to stop Obi-Wan and Windu when they moved to follow. "Not here, is Dooku. Across the desert I sense him." 

"He's running. He knows we're onto him," Windu took over the controls, kicking the ship into overdrive. 

"We've got to keep him from reaching his ship. If he gets into hyperspace we'll never catch him," Obi-Wan took the co-pilot's seat. "Scan the pillars lining the valley. He'll have a hangar concealed somewhere." 

"Still out of range." 

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, focusing. "He's on a speeder bike. There." 

"Tracking." Windu banked to adjust course toward the narrow canyon where Dooku flew, closing the distance slowly. "He's going down in that valley on the right." 

"Caltrops are set in the desert there. Land, we cannot." Yoda tightened his belt. "Clone troops, prepare to resume control of this vessel. If escape a ship does, shoot it down." 

"Yes, sir." 

The clones resumed their seats, hovering as low as possible for the Jedi to jump to the desert floor. They landed amidst a cloud of buffeting sand. Obi-Wan caught Yoda up on his shoulders and they sprinted past the abandoned bike. 

"Through here." Windu's saber made quick work of a half-concealed blast door, and they found Dooku's footprints waiting in the sand-dusted floor. They set out rapidly, following the tracks by the light of their sabers. 

"I hear engines powering up," Obi-Wan cautioned, and they speeded their pace, entering a hangar where a needle-slim ship waited, its twin wing-fans sharp, cradling a transparisteel bubble where they joined. Inside the bubble Dooku's padawan was visible, hastily warming the engines for flight. Of Dooku there was no sign. 

"My old friends." Dooku's chill tone was at odds with his warm words. "I'm glad you survived. How fortunate for us all." He stood on a ledge above the doorway, unlit lightsaber in hand. 

"Cut the poodoo." Windu turned, stepping forward as Obi-Wan quickly set Yoda on his feet. "You're under arrest, Dooku, for cooperating in a plan to destroy the Jedi, among other significant acts of treason against the Republic." 

Dooku simply laughed. "Such ingratitude after I led the Separatists to vote against secession in response to the Supreme Chancellor's plea?" 

Windu scoffed. "The Senate will investigate to determine the truth of your claims." 

"I'm afraid not." He smiled, thin lips stretching. "Though perhaps you should investigate at least one of your companions if you are eager to uncover a traitor." He nodded politely to Obi-Wan, mocking him. 

"I've been recalled to Serenno, where I will claim my rightful title of Count, which has been left vacant by the death of my brother. Let the Senate petition the Serennese government for my extradition if they wish." His smile deepened. "I'm sure I will give your petition all due consideration before rejecting it." 

"You're also under authority of the Jedi. Specifically you answer to the Grand Master and the Master of the Order. You will not leave Geonosis unless it is in our custody." Windu raised his lightsaber to guard position as Dooku ignited his own blade, his eyes flickering to the ship for the merest instant-- enough to warn Obi-Wan, who spun to block the turbolaser bolts fired by Dooku's padawan. 

Obi-Wan heard the hum and crackle of sabers behind him as he strode forward, deflecting bolts left and right. The padawan showed no fear, lasers tracking Obi-Wan calmly as he advanced. 

He could hear the cracking of blades, the rending of metal, and the crash of stone behind him, combined with grunts of effort from the combatants. He didn't look back, focused on the cockpit. "Cease fire on the order of the Jedi Council," Obi-Wan shouted, but the young man ignored him, face calm and resolute. 

The padawan flipped a bank of switches and the ship rose, aligning a second bank of turbolasers, which also commenced fire. Too late; Obi-Wan was already inside the dead zone, no longer in the cannons' field of fire. He flipped, neatly slicing away the barrels of the nearest cannons, then caught the others as he landed, neutralizing the ship's weapons system. He dodged a falling chunk of ceiling, lunging for the cockpit with his saber, but the boy jogged the ship just out of his reach and he tumbled to the ground, rolling as the boy sent the ship thumping down, seeking to crush him underneath its bulk. 

The Force was incredibly strong with the boy. Obi-Wan struck out at the ship's hull, cutting away a segment of its landing gear but missed any vital systems. He had to roll again as the ship descended savagely, barely missing him. 

The ship jarred the chamber, already unsteady from the telekinetic battle progressing between the Councilors. A huge section of wall fell, buffeting the ship and nearly knocking it out of the air; Obi-Wan jerked himself upright, focusing again on the lightsaber battle. 

Windu lay on the floor clutching a truncated arm. Yoda still spun and flipped around Dooku, a whirlwind of pure Force-- but he could only sustain the intensity of such an attack for a short time, Obi-Wan guessed, especially after his earlier exertions. 

Obi-Wan forgot the padawan and flung himself into a run, keeping behind Dooku. Yoda read his intentions, settling to the ground and engaging Dooku face to face, dodging and spinning, deflecting wicked strikes without taking to the air, giving Obi-Wan the time he needed. 

Obi-Wan reached out, summoning Windu's lightsaber to his left hand as he ran. 

Dooku laughed, raising one hand to call and fling chunks of rubble, lunging forward with his lightsaber in the other, meaning to drive Yoda straight into their path-- but before he could complete the move, Obi-Wan caught Dooku unawares, his presence masked in the Force by the taozin nodule he still carried. His blades crossed and he brought his wrists together to close them for sai cha, neatly severing Dooku's head. 

The head fell and rolled, and Dooku's body toppled to fall next to it. His unseeing eyes stared toward the roof, fixed on nothingness. 

Seeing his master fall, the padawan blasted skyward in a rush of heat and wind, punching out through the half-crumbled ceiling. 

Yoda stepped forward, spread hands deflecting the falling stones and pushing them aside. The ship climbed steeply, spinning wildly to evade the turbolasers from the LAAT/i, and in moments it vanished from sight, leaving the low-altitude transport far behind. 

"Much trouble, that one will be." Yoda replaced his lightsaber on his belt, his shoulders slumping as he released the Force and the weight of his years sank back onto him again. 

Obi-Wan went to tend Windu, who sat up, clutching his arm, scowling with pain, and accepted Obi-Wan's help with sullen reluctance. 

"Let's get back to the others," Obi-Wan suggested. "Before Qui-Gon wakes." 

*****

The regrouping point turned out to be the sands outside the devastated arena, whose sandstone had been so badly strained by the battle the Jedi judged it was no longer stable. 

The wounded and the dead lay in neat rows next to a knot of mobile survivors, and a group of prisoners also sat on the sand under the watchful eye of clone troops. Discarding Dooku's corpse, the three Jedi joined the survivors-- over 400 of the original 500 troops, including many of the Xinune contingent. 

They began the slow process of loading the wounded into the LAAT/i ships for transport to the space cruisers and return to Coruscant. Those who had the gift of healing walked amidst the rows, giving care, while others supervised and aided the removal effort. 

Qui-Gon lay on the sand with Drallig still sitting next to him. The blademaster held an unlit lightsaber in his fist, never taking his eyes from Qui-Gon's face, remaining alert to any signs of waking. 

"He hasn't stirred," he told Obi-Wan. "I can't sense anything from him." 

Obi-Wan pulled off his stola and folded them into a crude pillow, lifting Qui-Gon's head and gently resting it atop them. "If he moves call me." He rose again, eyes seeking the prisoners. 

"Find out, we must, what Palpatine attempted to communicate before he died. An order he tried to give the clones through his communicator," he heard Yoda speaking. "Deeply involved in the creation of this clone army he must have been. We must investigate any possibility that they could be exploited against us in the future." 

Obi-Wan shouldered through the group of clone troopers that surrounded the prisoners-- a motley collection of disconsolate Separatists and King Tiran, who looked up as he stepped inside the ring of blasters, a grin spreading across his face. 

"Obi-Wan!" 

"Tiran. I'm glad you're unhurt." They embraced quickly. "Let him through," he directed the clones. "He's in my custody now." He pulled Tiran to his feet and led him through the ring of guards. "What happened?" 

"I filibustered the Council," Tiran bragged, swelling with pride. "I was able to keep them from rejecting Palpatine's peace initiative out of hand; no transmissions were ever sent to that effect. Toward the end I thought Dooku was going to come for me with his lightsaber. But then the floor started to shake and everybody thought the whole spire was about to go down. Dooku took off like a blaster bolt-- he didn't give a damn what happened to the Council as long as he saved his own skin, I suppose. I surrendered on behalf of the Council when the clones came. No lives were lost and only Dooku escaped." 

"A fine job." Obi-Wan hugged him again. "Even if it was a damn fool thing to do. Warn me the next time!" 

"I will, if there is one. How's Qui-Gon?" Tiran caught Obi-Wan's wrist, his anxiety evident in the chill of his fingers. 

"He's not well." Obi-Wan's joy faded. "He's still unconscious." He led Tiran over and they knelt next to Qui-Gon's still form. He reached out, finding his old master's pulse had grown stronger, but it was still too slow. "He was very deeply immersed in the Dark Side." Obi-Wan held Tiran's eyes soberly. "We don't know what we're going to get back." 

"He'll come back." Tiran's voice shook, and he lifted his hand, gently wiping a smudge of dirt from Qui-Gon's cheek. "He's too damned stubborn not to." 

"He'll need time." 

"He'll need you, not a round of trials and inquisitions and testimony." Tiran's voice dropped low. "He spoke to me once of recovering from his first brush with the Dark Side on Chandar, running with Dramacore's cats." 

"I had thought of that," Obi-Wan admitted. "It seems a reasonable approach to try." 

"I have a cruiser stored in the hangar below the Separatists's meeting spire; it has a pretty good medical bay. I could call the slave circuit if I had my communicator. The clones confiscated our equipment." 

"I think I can dig it up." Obi-Wan strolled over to the clone commander, who was marked on both arms with a stripe of yellow, and returned with a small box. 

Tiran rooted through and came up with his comm, pressed a code sequence, and handed it to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan took the box back to the clones, then paused to trade a few words with Yoda. 

"King Tiran has summoned his cruiser. I'm taking Qui-Gon, Master." He went to one knee. "He needs my care, not the Council's inquisition." 

Yoda nodded once in curt agreement. 

"Report to me often, you will," was his only directive, and he turned away, moving to board the next LAAT/i with Windu. 

Tiran's ship sailed across the sands and settled nearby, dropping its boarding ramp. 

"Master Drallig, thank you." Obi-Wan lifted Qui-Gon. "You're released from this duty." 

"Be careful, Kenobi." Drallig looked up at him soberly. "He's dangerous." 

"Aren't we all," Obi-Wan returned wryly, and Drallig chuckled in spite of himself. 

Tiran accompanied them to the bottom of the ramp. "You'll find a friend aboard." He smiled a little. "Qui-Gon will be glad to see him." 

"Oh?" Obi-Wan raised a brow, but Tiran just stood back, his grin widening. 

"Yes. May the Force be with you both, Obi-Wan." 

"And with you, Tiran." 

He carried Qui-Gon up the ramp and bedded him down snugly in the medical bay, tucking a warm blanket around the big, limp body, then went to the cockpit. He disengaged the autopilot and tested the engines as he lifted off amidst a cloud of LAAT/i vessels, familiarizing himself with the controls and asking the navicomp to plot a course to Chandar. 

No one challenged him as he departed. When the starfield finally stretched to hyperspace Obi-wan leaned back, releasing the dregs of energy that had propelled him and sagging into the pilot's chair. 

After only a few seconds he got up, groaning at his stiff, aching muscles. He could use medical attention to his burns, a bath, food, and about five days' sleep, but Qui-Gon came first. 

He stopped with a startled noise in his throat; Chattan sat in the doorway to the cockpit, tail neatly curled around his feet, staring up at Obi-Wan expectantly. 

"Come with me?" Obi-Wan asked. "Qui-Gon needs you." 

Chattan unfolded himself and sprang lightly into Obi-Wan's arms, settling himself there with regal dignity. 

With great care, Obi-Wan carried Chattan into the medical bay, unsealing the door with a tap of Force. The big cat purred, sighting Qui-Gon, and let Obi-Wan set him on the bed. The cat went to Qui-Gon immediately, sniffing at his face, and arranged himself on Qui-Gon's chest, kneading the blanket with his forepaws. 

"Watch your claws," Obi-Wan warned, but it was done; Qui-Gon's eyes fluttered at the slight pinpricks and Obi-Wan stepped near hastily. 

Qui-Gon focused slowly, his forehead tightening with tension, eyes darting about warily until he found Obi-Wan bending over him. 

"You're safe now," Obi-Wan murmured, touching his forehead. "And you have a visitor." 

Chattan purred louder, kneading again, and Qui-Gon's eyes widened, making the journey down toward his chest. He hitched himself up on his elbows and Obi-Wan helped support him as he reached out with trembling arms and gathered the cat to him, burying his face in its soft fur. His shoulders hitched once, then again. Silent, ragged gasps escaped his chest, disintegrating into choked sobs. 

Obi-Wan slid in at his side and held him, supporting him as he wept, his own face wet. 

"It's going to be all right," he murmured, stroking Qui-Gon's shoulder. "It's over now."

*************************

GLOSSARY

Acklay - The big crab-like thing that attacked Obi-Wan in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

Agen Kolar: A member of the Jedi High Council, skilled with the lightsaber. See Wookieepedia 

Caltrop field: A field of spikes set into the desert of Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Electro-proton bomb: Item used by Darth Mallaigh to neutralize battle droids on Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

E'Y-Akh Desert: A desert on Geonosis, known for rolling sand dunes. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosis: A planet with a ring of debris, the site of droid foundaries that use the planetary ring for mining purposes, and the chosen base of the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosian Spire: An artificial construct, a pillared spiral tower set atop a sandstone bluff. Found in profusion on Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosis droid foundries: The droid production lines on Geonosis, upon which B1, B2, and droideka destroyers are produced for the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Geonosian War Room: The command center in which the Separatists meet, and from which Dooku monitors the progress of the First Battle of Geonosis. See Wookieepedia 

Gray Jedi: Used ambiguously to describe both Force users who manipulate the Dark Side without surrendering to it, and mavericks who deny the will of the Jedi High Council on Coruscant. See Wookieepedia 

LAAT/i: Low Altitude Assault Transport (infantry). Ships for the transportation and rapid deployment of clone troopers. See Wookieepedia 

Mallaigh's hangar: A hangar set into an abandoned aquatic defense factory once run inside sandstone formation in the desert on Geonosis. This is the same place employed by Count Dooku for spaceship storage in Attack of the Clones, therein known as Dooku's hangar. See Wookieepedia 

Master of the Order: The elected head of the Jedi High Council. Second in rank only to the Grand Master, if the two ranks are not held by the same person. This rank is held by Mace Windu, both in this story and in pre-AOTC canon. See Wookieepedia 

Nexu: Big toothy cat that attacked Amidala in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

N'ge'u Valley: The valley beneath the sandstone formation where Mallaigh's hangar is located. See Wookieepedia 

Petranaki arena: The red sandstone arena in which public executions are held for entertainment purposes on Geonosis. Also used by chancellor Palpatine as a venue from which to broadcast his diplomatic appeal to the Separatists. See Wookieepedia 

Reek: Big, horned reddish critter that attacked Anakin in the Petranaki arena in AOTC. See Wookieepedia 

_Sai cha:_ Beheading an opponent with the lightsaber, usually reserved for extremely dangerous foes who have resisted milder attacks. See Wookieepedia 

Shatterpoint: A Force-user's perception of weakness in an individual or situation, where careful application of pressure will create unexpectedly violent change or destructive result. This can be regarded as analogous to the cleavage planes in a crystal, indicating where and how the crystal will break under pressure-- but used in this sense, it is usually applied to persons or political events. Mace Windu can often see such shatterpoints and use them to his political advantage. For example, in prequel trilogy canon, just before he is killed, Windu sees that Palpatine's faith in Anakin Skywalker is his shatterpoint, and that it will eventually bring about his destruction. See Wookieepedia 

Sora Bulq: Weequay Jedi Master, master of all forms of lightsaber combat, turned to the Dark Side by his attempt to master vaapad, and recruited by Dooku to serve Palpatine's interests. In this story, he's recruited a bit earlier than in canon. See Wookieepedia 

Wall of Light: A power that could only be mustered by several linked Light Side Force users, it can be used to cut a Dark Side user off from the Force, often with agonizing or even fatal effects, such as planet-wide firestorms. See Wookieepedia


End file.
